


Welcome To Jellicle Arts!

by Kamechan98



Series: Jellicle Arts For Jellicle Cats [1]
Category: Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T. S. Eliot
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Anthropomorphic cats, Dancing and Singing, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Drama, Family Feels, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Magic, Sibling Love, Teenage Drama, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 58,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24237892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamechan98/pseuds/Kamechan98
Summary: Jellicle Arts is a school for the most talented cats in the country, where they learn singing, dancing, acting, acrobatics and everything they want in order to become to stars of tomorrow.Mistoffelees has never had any interest in being a performer or a star, but the biggest reason is because of his magic powers that need to be kept secret. But once he finds himself part of this school, a new world opens up to him, with friendship, love and a newfound love for the stage.(Part slice of life, part continual story)
Relationships: Bustopher Jones & Mr. Mistoffelees, Mr. Mistoffelees & Rum Tum Tugger (Cats), Mr. Mistoffelees & Victoria
Series: Jellicle Arts For Jellicle Cats [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030893
Comments: 68
Kudos: 124





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is my first time writing in the CATS fandom. And I have to say, even though I haven't been in this fandom for so long, I really really love it here. The people are so nice and friendly and open minded to every possible ship and headcanon. Such a nice change of pace from every other fandom I've joined or checked out.
> 
> Anyway, I just want to clarify how this AU works. Basically, the characters are anthropomorphic, kind of how they look in the 1998 movie, but they wear regular clothes and live in a world similar to ours, only with cats, and sometimes dogs. 
> 
> Also this heavily based on the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious, just so you know, this concept and a lot of the chapters are not entirely my own ideas. At least not all of them.
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy it!

Mistoffelees and Victoria Jones were twins. Though when any of them told anyone else that fact, they would always take a good long look at them, as if silently judging them and comparing them.

“Really? I don’t see it.” 

“No, really, who's adopted?” 

“Oh, so one of you have a different mother, right?”

It was so common that no one of them even got annoyed or frustrated about it anymore. Because it was true. Aside from the sparkling blue eyes they both shared, they were extremely different from each other.

Where Mistoffelees took after their father the most, with his black and white tuxedo fur and dressed himself in mostly black and white, or dull colors, Victoria's fur was pure white and loved bright, pastel colors and flowing skirts. Where Mistoffelees was reserved and aloof and barely spoke to anyone unless spoken too, Victoria was a social butterfly who loved make new friends and was always buzzing with energy and curiosity. Where Mistoffelees enjoyed sticking to the background and not drawing too much attention to himself, Victoria simply loved to perform and being on stage. 

Which lead to the biggest differences between the two of them: they both went to vastly different schools. 

Mistoffelees had enrolled in a regular high school. Well, maybe not _regular_ , it was still one of the fancier and wealthier private schools in the city considering their father had always wanted his kids to go to good schools and get as great of an education as money could buy. But it was still a regular school, where he studied math, science, history and other subjects most cats studied. Nothing fancy or that noteworthy about it at all. 

Victoria on the other hand, went to the prestigious Jellicle Arts School for Gifted Cats. Or Jellicle Arts, as it was mostly commonly known as. It was a school for cats with great talents for the all kinds of arts, in every way, shape and form. You name it, singing, dancing, acting, playing instruments, acrobatics, even all of the behind the scenes things, like writing, directing, producing, make-up, making props etc. 

And Victoria, who had been dancing ballet practically since she had learned to walk, was a shoe-in for this school. 

Now, Mistoffelees was also a very good dancer, just as talented and skilled as his sister. He had danced just as long as her and loved it just as much, but he had never had the same interest in performing that she had. He always danced as a means to relax or unwind, never to show off his talent or to fulfill any childhood dreams of fame or admiration. He had never really been the one who longed for the spotlight and was fine with going to a ‘normal’ school and being around other cats who only danced or acted or sang during their free time. If at all.

Victoria went on and on about how he would really like it at her school and could go places as a dancer, seeing as he was just as talented as she was. But Mistoffelees had long since learned how to ignore his sister’s nagging and kept saying he liked it at his school and that the other cats there were very nice. 

Not that he knew, considering he still had to make any meaningful relationships with any of them, but hey, he was still freshman. He had plenty of time to work through his shyness and talk to them.

Or maybe just a couple of them.

Or just, you know… one of them?

But Mistoffelees had always been very driven in his studies and known how to make the grade, and so that helped distract him from his loneliness and how the others cats looked at him funny or gave snide remarks about being weird or a loner. 

Also, it made it easier to hide his… little secret.

Because there was still one major detail that separated him from, not just his sister, but most cats. Because where Victoria had been born as just normal kitten, not too different from any other, Misto had been born with a special gift. 

He was a magical cat.

Magical cats were rare, barely 10% of the population were born with magic powers, and while not exactly discriminated against, they were frowned upon to at least some extent. The only other Magical Cat that Mistoffelees knew about was Macavity; a known criminal and troublemaker who also seemed impossible to catch, despite having broken just about every law and was wanted for everything. He always managed to slip away and disappear. 

That was not someone Misto wanted to be compared to. Ever. 

His father had also drilled it into his head very early on how most cats were afraid of magic and had made him promise to keep his magic hidden from everyone and never show it. To keep himself safe from scrutiny or prejudice and those who'd want to hurt him. Or so he claimed. But Mistoffelees knew the real reason he was saying that all the time.

He was ashamed of him.

Because on the surface, Mistoffelees was the very model of the ideal and perfect son. Straight A student, polite and well-behaved, never got in trouble and had a lot of respect and love for his family and always kept himself neat and tidy. But it was all a lie and facade that he had spent years building up in order to keep his secret hidden and to keep everyone else thinking he was a perfectly normal and ordinary cat and not an embarrassment to his father, who had a very high social standing.

Because Heaviside forbid that Bustopher Jones- The Cat About Town and such a prestigious, wealthy and influential cat and was such a big name in the entertainment industry and had two wonderfully charming, lovely and successful children had a son who was a freak. No, that could never get out. No, of course he was just a regular and normal cat, just like everyone else, with no magical or extraordinary traits whatsoever. 

_'Nothing to see here. Not unusual, nothing extraordinary, nothing eye-catching, just an ordinary and normal cat.'_

_‘Nothing for anyone to look at more than twice. Nothing special or unique or awe inspiring. Just… a mediocrity in a word full of extraordinary cats.’_

Because that was the role he was expected to play. Despite being very intelligent and having such good grades, he had no real talents aside from his dancing and his magic. He was gifted in school, but he had no interest in being a doctor or a lawyer or run a business, like most of his father's fancy friends and business partners did. He had nothing to help himself stand out in anyways or make others remember his name after Victoria started to charm everyone and made everyone fall in love with her energy and passion and kindness and forgot about polite yet stiff little Mistoffelees.

Because that was what was expected of him. And he couldn't disappoint his father anymore than he already had.

And so, Mistoffelees kept to himself, made sure to keep himself invisible and his emotions under control, doing everything he could to make sure his powers would remain a secret to everyone except his family. He had long since mastered the art of keeping his emotions under lock and key and kept his distance from most other cats, did little to nothing to gain any unwanted attention unless he absolutely had to and spent most of his free time either studying or dancing, either alone or with his sister. And tried hard to ignore the longing for the same camaraderie and attention his sister so easily got from everyone else, and the stinging jealousy that brewed over how their father loved her much more than him.

Because, try as he might, he could never hate her for it. She was full of energy, kind and passionate. She was the best sister he could have ever had and he loved her more than anything. It wasn't her fault that he'd born a freak and needed to stay hidden and keep himself under tight supervision and control so no one would ever find out. And she had always been his biggest and loudest supporter, even more so than their father for the most part. 

Okay, so maybe it wasn't an ideal situation, but he was fine where he was. His school was fine, the classmates were fine, the schoolwork was fine.

Life was fine as it was.

And nothing really needed to change anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I think that's the gist of it all. I didn’t plan on writing so much information and exposition, but I figured it was best to put a big chunk in a prologue so it wouldn't be too much at once.
> 
> Also, I am not trying to vilify Bustopher, I love him, but it's very important for character development later in the story. Plus, I figure that overprotectiveness is pretty much a given when having a child with unique and special abilities. 
> 
> Stay tuned for the next update and first real chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mistoffelees gets his first good introduction to Victoria's school and finds himself... pleasantly surprised by it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not even going to bother trying to write accents! Just a heads up, that any and all accents for specific cats (cough, Teazer and Jerrie, cough) so you just have to imagine them as those lovely cockney babies we all know and love!
> 
> Now that that's said, I really hope you'll like this first official chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

“Oh, Heaviside above, Misto!”

Mistoffelees looked up from his laptop and at Victoria as she running down the stairs with a wide smile on her face and her pink dress was practically flying around her as she ran into the living room and up to the couch with her baby blue gym bag in one paw and her phone in her other paw, waving it around.

“I just got the email from Munkustrap! You can never guess who I got paired up with to dance with at the big Showcase!” Misto smiled fondly at her, briefly putting away his laptop and gave her his full attention, sitting up from his reclined position.

"Do tell, dear sister. Who's the lucky tom?” She practically squealed, bouncing up and down with her clasped paws under her chin.

“Plato Underwood! I finally get to dance with Plato, Misto! My prayers have been answered, at last!” Mistoffelees scrunched his nose and titled his head to the side, partially confused and partially unnerved by this seemingly sudden affection for this other tom he had never met. 

"Plato? Weren't you just squealing about that Tugger cat and going on and on about how handsome he is just the other day?”

Victoria scoffed and waved him off, pointing her nose in the air. “Pfft, well _yeah_ , but _every_ queen fawns over Tugger. And who can blame us? He is so handsome and cool and charming…”

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes, shaking his head slowly and let his sister go on. He had never actually met Rum Tum Tugger, but what he had heard from Victoria did not exactly impress him.

He sounded like such a terrible bore.

“But Plato, he's sweet, and kind and he's kind of goofy, but in all the right ways! Not to mention he's an amazing dancer, too.” Victoria sat down beside Mistoffelees, leaning her head on his shoulder and sighed dreamily, her gym bag thrown on the floor.

“I think I'm in love, Misto. He's The One, I just know it.” And Everlasting, who was he not to smile when she looked like that? Mistoffelees smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. 

"Well, I'm happy you're happy, Tori. I can't wait to meet him.” She smiled brightly and grabbed his arm, which made him only slightly concerned. 

“Well, I'm so glad you think so, Misto. Because he's coming over here to meet up before we go over to the rehearsals! He's probably going to be here soon.”

Wait, what?

"Now?” He pulled away from her grip on his arm, grabbing the laptop and placing it back in his lap. "Tori, I have an essay due tomorrow, I don't have time to socialize.” 

Victoria rolled her eyes so hard they threatened to fall off her face and grabbed his arm again, shaking him. “Oh come on, you know you're gonna ace that anyway! When have you ever _not_ gotten the highest grade? Please, just talk with him for a bit? I really want you two to like each other! It’ll only be like five minutes anyway! Please?” 

She pouted and batted her big blue eyes at him, which only made Mistoffelees snort and turn his attention back on his essay.

“Come on, Tori, you know the kitten eyes don't work on me. You gotta find a new tactic of convincing me.” Victoria growled in frustration. 

“Everlasting Cat Misto, why do you have to be so damn stubborn? Honestly, I'm asking so very little, just that you get to know the tom I really like, not to go to war! Why do you have to be so difficult about this?”

Mistoffelees shook his head and kept his eyes locked on the screen in front of him. "Tori, you know I don't like to meet other cats like this. I can't talk to others like you can."

She rolled her eyes, extremely frustrated and practically glared at her brother. “No, you _can_ , you just _won't_. Come on, Misto, I get that you're an introvert and all, but it's not like the world is going to end just from talking to another cat!”

He snapped his head up and glared at her. He knew she was right, she always was. But she also knew that he wasn't like her and was absolutely terrible at talking to others. He never knew what to say or how to act.

Spending most of your time trying to keep a distance from other cats will do that to you.

He sighed and turned away from her, resting his head in his hands. “I know. But what would I even have to talk about? School work? The weather? I can never think about anything good to say."

Victoria rolled her eyes and pushed him, almost causing his laptop to slip out of his lap and he flew forward to catch it before it hit the floor.

“How about you just start with a simple 'hello?’ That's a pretty good start.”

He glared at her and placed his laptop on the coffee table, sighing heavily and wrapped his arms around himself. “It's not that easy, Tori. I'm not like you, you know that. I don't have the gift of charm or good conversation starters or anything like that. I'm not a shining star or someone that catches anyone's attention for more than a second. I'm nothing special.” 

He sighed and hugged himself tighter. “I'm not allowed to be.” 

Victoria's glare softened and she sighed, leaning against him and wrapped an arm around him. 

"Oh, Misto. You are so much more amazing than you realize. You might think that you're a mediocrity at best or a freak at worst, but you are so much more than that. You're super smart, an amazing dancer and such a great cat. You’re already an amazing cat and you could have a whole lot of friends if you’d just to try."

Mistoffelees shook his head, closing his eyes and fighting back the tears. “Not like you, Tori. Everyone loves you and they forget about me very quickly. You know they do, they always do.”

He sighed and looked down at his paws, which were now tingling with energy and a few electric sparkles were dancing around his claws. “And if I weren't, they'd scream in terror and run away. Or they'll call me a freak or a monster and think I'm going to be the next Macavity. At least this way I can keep myself safe. If the choice is between being seen as nothing or Macavity…”

His voice broke and closed his eyes to cut off the stream of tears. “I couldn't live with that Victoria. You know I can't.”

Victoria's heart broke at the sight and words of her brother and had to fight back tears of her own. Because she did know. And she understood his fears and there were days she cursed their father's name for what he had done to her brother. Because while Bustopher had always meant well when explaining how other cats viewed magic and how a lot of them were still wary of it, it just wasn't fair that her brother had to hide himself from the world like this. To view himself as a nobody or a monster with no shades of grey between or any other options. To constantly be playing the part of the perfect yet unremarkable son and nothing else, while she was free to do whatever she wanted and be whoever she wanted. When he could be so much more than that. But he never allowed himself to even try to reach out to other cats or do the things he really wanted to try or do, because their father had convinced him that risk was too high. 

She remembered the old days, when they were kids. Back when Mistoffelees had been unafraid of his powers, had been relishing in his fun-loving, energized and mischievous side and had been playing pranks on her and their father every day, or performed magic tricks for both their amusement and benefit. Like making her toys disappear and reappear from thin air or out of a hat. Or he would turn himself invisible to steal cookies from the cookie jar before dinner. Or he would freeze the tea when their father's snobby friends’ were over for a visit and then make it scorching hot and knock the teapot over, spilling it all over their fancy coats and beautiful dresses and suits, then turn himself invisible and run away snickering as they yowled and screeched in outrage and pain.

They could never figure out how it happened and it had never stopped being hilarious. 

But it had been somewhere around that point where Bustopher had started his fear-mongering and drilled it into Mistoffelees’ head how magic scared cats and that it was best to keep it hidden, so he wouldn't scare anyone.

So others wouldn't be scared of him.

“Misto, stop it, you’re not a freak! You’re not a monster! And you will never, ever, be like Macavity, how many times do I have to tell you that?” She sighed and placed a paw on his cheek, forcing him to look her in the eye. “Oh Misto, when are you going to start seeing yourself the way _I_ see you? When are you going to realize that your powers don't define who you are? You are so much more than what dad is trying to make you.”

Mistoffelees looked at her through his tears, blinked them away and took a deep, shaky breath.

"Tori… I just-” He began, but didn't get to say any further as the doorbell chimed and Victoria flew up from the couch, her expression stuck between excitement and nervosity. 

“That's him.” She raised her paws to her head, brushing her claws through her fur and licked one paw to clean her face and ears with before making her way to the door. 

Mistoffelees kept his face down and eyes locked on the laptop in front of him, his stomach clenched in worry and anxiety and he felt his paws tingle ever so slightly.

_‘No, no, no. Keep it in, keep it together. Don't let him see it.’_

Victoria opened the door with a wide smile, her eyes sparkling happily and gestured the other Tom inside. “Hi, Plato! Welcome, come in."

"Thank you.”

Mistoffelees took a long deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth and turned off his emotions- an art he had long since mastered- and cleaned his face from any traces of tears before glancing up over the screen in front of him to take in Victoria's crush.

He was tall, at least a head taller than Victoria, his fur was white with red, brown and black spots and stripes over his body, tail and head. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt under a thin jacket and he had a dark green gym bag thrown over his shoulder. He was lean but muscular, clearly built from the same amount of years of dancing as him and Victoria and carried himself with a straight back and soft smile on his face. 

Yeah, he was clearly handsome, but he also had a gentility and kindness in his face, and also looked very laid back. Relaxed yet proud and confident at the same time. 

Victoria turned back to him, smiling and gesturing the tom next to her, with a very giddy smile on her face. “Misto, this is Plato, my classmate and dance partner for the showcase.” And Misto could only smile at the fact that his sister's voice was practically shaking with excitement and happiness. 

She turned back to Plato and gestured towards her brother. “And Plato, this is my brother Mistoffelees.” Mistoffelees smiled wryly and, despite the tingling in his paws and his stomach turning itself into knots with nervousness, waved from the couch and spoke lowly.

"Call me Misto. Practically everyone does.” Plato smiled and waved back, coming over to the couch with Victoria trailing close behind him.

“Hello Misto. Do you go the Jellicle Arts, too?” The question almost made Mistoffelees snort with laughter, but the tingling in his paws made him all too aware of his emotions and reminded himself of how he needed to stay in control of himself.

_‘Can't slip up. Not once. One little mistake and everything will be revealed.'_

So he simply smiled weakly and shook his head. “Oh no, no I'm not a performer. That's my sister's thing.” Victoria shook her head and came up to him, wrapping an around his neck.

"Don't listen to him, Plato. He keeps talking like he's no good, but once you see him dance then you’re gonna think he was born to be on a stage. I keep telling him he should join us at Jellicle Arts, but he keep turning me down.”

Misto rolled his eyes and removed Victoria's arm from around his shoulders. “Yeah, because we all know that's _never_ going to happen, Tori.”

Plato smiled and then took a good long look around the living room, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "Wow Tori, I know you said your dad was loaded, but I didn't think he was _this_ loaded. Everlasting, I could get lost in the hallway alone!”

Mistoffelees and Victoria eyed each other and smirked. This reaction wasn't exactly uncommon for anyone who came to their house for the first time. Even the cats that went to Mistoffelees' school were taken aback by the mansion their father owned, and they were all children of rich cats too. 

Victoria snickered, her blue eyes sparkling as she did. “Oh, come on, it's not _that_ big.” 

Plato turned to her with an “are you kidding me” look. “'Not _that_ big?! The hallway and living room alone is bigger than half of my parent's place! What does you dad even do, did he invent the internet?” 

Misto smirked. Okay, this Tom was very quickly growing on him and the anxiety slowly started to ease up. Just a little though. And tingling in his paws was still there, reminding him to keep his distance and his words to a minimum. 

Victoria snickered again, shaking her head. “Oh no, nothing like that. His family was already wealthy before he was born. He owns a lot of very fancy and high-class clubs in the city, that's really about it. But he does a lot to keep the party life going strong and works with a lot of important cats, which does make him a lot of money."

Plato nodded slowly, a big smile forming on his face as he took in the big room. Then he looked down at his watch and gestured with his head towards the door.

“Well, we should probably get going. Munkustrap wants us all present and accounted for at school at 12.” Mistoffelees titled his head, a bit confused.

“You guys have to practice at school? Is it even open?” Plato shrugged with a smile. 

“The Showcase is a very big deal for everyone. There’ll be all kinds of agents and directors and producers and people in showbusiness to watch the show, so it's a very important that it's perfect. It's a big opportunity for everyone to get their foot in the door for after we graduate. So yeah, we're allowed at school for rehearsals. Really, it's almost obligatory that we're there if anything.” 

Tori smiled and grabbed her jeans jacket. “Yeah, and Munk is also a really tough perfectionist and will want to make sure that everything is going according to plan, down to the smallest detail. He might actually have an aneurysm if it doesn't.”

Plato snorted and grinned at her. “Hey, remember when Mungojerrie kept messing up the barks when we rehearsed for The Aweful Battle of The Pekes And The Pollicles and when Tugger kept barging in with the bagpipes? I thought he was gonna cry by the end of the day.” 

Victoria laughed loudly and nodded, wiping at her eye as a few tears slipped out. “Oh yeah, poor guy. Jerrie must have done it on purpose, even _he_ can't be _that_ dense.” 

Plato chuckled and nodded. “But you gotta know Tugger did it all on purpose. The guy has to see it as his mission in life to torture the poor guy. I wouldn't be surprised if Straps will try to strangle him before the Showcase even starts."

As she and Plato laughed, Mistoffelees couldn't help but feel a little left out. They were classmates and did obviously have some kind of friendship here, enough to have inside jokes or laugh over funny stories together. Even if Plato didn't like her like _that_ , they did obviously have a friendship together.

He sighed and sat down on the couch, putting his laptop back in his lap and clenching it tightly, keeping a tight leash on himself and his powers, even as a familiar jealousy came creeping in. 

_‘It would be very nice to have something like that._

_But you_ _can’t_ _. So why torture yourself wishing for it?’_

So he smiled over at them, over the top of the screen, and waved at them as they got ready to leave. “Well, break a leg, guys! When are you coming home, Tori?” 

She smiled. “I'll probably be pretty late. At earliest I'll be home at 6 PM. If dad comes home before I do, tell him you don't have to wait for me if you guys wanna eat. You know how cranky he gets if he doesn't get to eat on time.”

She waved and they left, leaving Mistoffelees alone in the living room and he sighed. The worry and anxiety started to release him and he went back to work on his essay. He didn't have much left to do on it, but Victoria was right and he always did everything he could do make sure he got the best grade, which made it take much longer than it probably needed to. So by the time he thought the whole thing was perfect, it was past noon and he felt ready to do something else with his Sunday. Maybe take a nice walk in the sun? Or go to the bookstore and see if they had any new books that be worth reading? Or go into the dance studio and release the remaining anxiety in his gut to make sure he wouldn't accidentally blow out a lightbulb or set something on fire. _Again_.

Before he could make up his mind, he heard his stomach rumble, reminding him that breakfast had been three hours ago and he needed to refill before doing anything else. Because his father wasn’t the only one who got cranky if he didn't get to eat, which certainly wouldn’t help him keep his powers under control.

He moved to get up from the couch only to trip over something and almost fall over the coffee table. He looked down to the floor and saw Victoria's bag sitting there, forgotten and left behind by his sister. Who would be right into rehearsals right now.

He groaned and got his phone out of pocket, dialing her number to call and tell her she had left her bag at home, only to hear her phone go off in the room. When he looked down, he saw it lying on the coffee table, also forgotten by his sister. 

He groaned again, resting the screen of his phone against his forehead. Damn it, Victoria must've been so excited about dancing and being with Plato all day that she forgot about her dancing gear. And her phone.

Mistoffelees really did not want to go her school with the bag. He knew practically no one there and he was way too shy and anxious to go someplace new all alone. Keeping control over his powers while in public could be tricky enough on its own, he certainly didn't need to make it harder by being surrounded by complete strangers. 

But if this Showcase was as big a deal as Victoria and Plato said it was, she might be given a lot of flack for not bringing her gear and might even get in trouble for not being prepared for a long day of rehearsals.

What if she got kicked off the Showcase? Or wasn't allowed to dance with Plato anymore, which had made her so very happy?

Mistoffelees sighed and after quick run to the kitchen to grab an apple and sandwich, grabbed the bag, stuffed her phone in it and grabbed his own phone and threw on his shoes and jacket.

“So much for a lazy Sunday.”

He could already feel the anxiety come creeping in again and he grabbed tightly at the bag's strap and gripped his apple so hard he almost crushed it with his claws to stop his paws from tingling. 

* * *

Mistoffelees had been to Victoria's school a few times before, but it had all been for performances and shows, never during the day, especially not when cats normally wouldn't even be in school. And he'd be lying if he wasn't sweating bullets and felt very nervous for going into a place he wasn't supposed to be in to begin with, his stomach turning itself inside out with anxiety and his paws had gone from tingling to practically vibrating with energy. 

The school was big, with enough classrooms and hallways to make anyone get lost in seconds after entering the building. Thankfully Mistoffelees knew most rehearsals took place in the auditorium, where all the shows were also staged, so finding his way wasn't too difficult. 

It also helped that the hallways were practically deserted, with it being a Sunday and a lot of them were probably either rehearsing, at home or taking advantage of the sunny day.

He gripped Victoria's bag tighter, feeling the palms of his paws soaked with sweat and leaving dark wet paw prints on the light blue fabric, swallowing hard and praying to the Everlasting Cat that no one would spot him and ask why he was here at all and kick him out since he wasn't a student here.

He eventually made it to the doors to the auditorium and took a deep, shaky breath and a sip from the bottle for courage before pushing the doors open and walking in before he could chicken out and flee the building. 

The first thing he noticed as he walked in was the music played. And the first thing he saw was the group of cats on the big stage, either talking amongst themselves or dancing or singing along to the music. 

And oh boy, was there a lot going on that stage. A group of cats were dancing. In the lead were two calico cats, dressed in tights and dance shoes and dancing to a very upbeat and energetic melody. And the choreography was a mix between acrobatics, tap and something akin to vaudeville or something similar.

It looked highly draining if nothing else and he couldn’t help being highly impressed by their skill and energy. 

From the ceiling was a small white queen with black, brown and orange stripes swinging back and forth on a trapeze, performing all kinds of flips and tricks like it was nothing. Like she wasn't swinging precariously several feet over the stage and would probably break every bone in her body if she fell.

Three queens were standing off to the side of the stage, performing vocal warm ups and looking over a few papers, probably looking over lyrics to a song, all also holding take-out cups of coffee in their paws.

On the edge of the stage two cats- one with a saxophone and the other a trumpet- were going through notes together, as well as several other cats sitting on the stage or wherever there was space with guitars, keyboards, violins, cellos, flutes and several different kinds of instruments, either practicing or tuning them.

The room was kinda chaotic, but it was a very comforting kind of chaotic and there was something almost kind of hypnotic about it. The music and the energy from the dancers, the other cats who were either dancing along from the sidelines, or stretching, singing, playing music or talking with their friends. 

Mistoffelees slowly made his way down one of the aisles, his eyes glued to the dancing cats on stage and a smile tugged at his lips. 

They were very good dancers. 

"Hey, can I help you?” Mistoffelees nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice and turned, spotting a tom standing next to him, one eyebrow raised and his arms folded over his chest and head tilted slightly to the side. 

His fur was white with black patches and a few stripes here and there, and he was also dressed in typical dancing gear; black tights and a tank top as well as a pair of black dancing shoes. 

He looked to be at least a couple of years older than him, and also clearly recognized him as not a student. Which probably wasn't too hard, considering he was the only one in the room not dressed for dance or had an instrument and looked ready to drop dead from nerves.

Mistoffelees however, was too caught up in the energy and good feeling looked back at the stage and smiled. “They're really good.”

The tom smirked and turned to them too. “Yeah, you've got that right.”

A white cat with brown and black patches with a notable brown patch over his left eye who was dancing behind the calico twins' must have heard them, ‘cause his ear twitched and he turned to them, smirking cockily at them.

"They can keep puttin’ me in detention all they want, just so long as they don't rob me of my music, kitten!” He laughed and the tom beside him, who looked to be his twin, laughed before they performed a series of pirouettes.

Mistoffelees smiled and walked closer to the stage, releasing his tight grip on Victoria's bag and walked up so he was standing just below the other dancers. His whole body was tingling and jittering with energy and wanted so desperately to join in. 

He was a true blue dancer, sue him. 

“Wow. That looks really good. Did you come up with it all on your own?” The calico tom in the lead smirked down at him, winking and then did a pirouette.

“You know it, kitten. This cat isn't dancing to nothing else but his own work.” He said in a thick cockney accent, then, in perfect in sync with the Calico queen beside him, performed a series of tandem cartwheels, which just about made Mistoffelees’ jaw hit the floor.

Damn these cats were good!

Mistoffelees grinned from ear to ear, slowly moving around a little in time with the music without realizing it. “Wow! You guys are really good!"

Both of them bowed and grinned cheekily down at him with their arms around each other. “Why thank you, you are too kind, kitten.” He smirked.

His partner giggled and placed a hand over her heart, speaking with the same thick accent her dance partner had. “Your praise and compliments are music to our ears.” They laughed and playfully shoved each other, clearly playing a sort of game only they knew.

“So, would it be a little something like this?” And so Mistoffelees started to dance along with the others cats, quickly picking up the choreography and copying the others moves. 

"Whoa, hold on, you can't dance like that!” The first white and brown tom cried out, partly in disbelief and partly impressed and even though Mistoffelees didn't see him, he could hear the smile in his voice.

His twin stepped forward, a white cat with big brown markings on his body, most notably a big brown spot over his right eyes and about a quarter of his face. 

“Hold on now.” He grinned down at Mistoffelees, reaching down one paw for him to grab. "Come on, we can't see you from down there.”

And before he could let his nerves get the better of him or think better of it, Mistoffelees took his paw and allowed the other cat to help him up on the stage. He then stepped back, grinning cockily and moving into position. 

"So, see if you can keep up.” Then he started to dance again. His dance wasn't quite as acrobatic or complicated as the Calicos dance, but still based heavily around ballet and jazz. 

Piece of cake. 

Mistoffelees was quick to mirror his dance, an equally cocky grin on his face, which only widened as he heard all the other cats impressed cheers and clapping. 

A queen with fiery red fur and intense eyes walked up to them, arms folded and leaning on one leg as she eyed them with an impressed smirk, resting one arm on the shoulder of a golden queen beside her.

"Damn, kitten's got some moves.” The golden queen beside her nodded with a wide smile and clapped as she watched them. And her words only made Mistoffelees smile wider and he felt himself grow warm with the praise from the cats around them.

This was… nice. Much nicer than he had thought it would be when he entered the the school. The dance was fairly easy, nothing too complicated or even that advanced all things considered. The tom was probably treating him with kitten mittens, but he was strangely okay with it.

Because these cats knew dance in a way his peers at his school didn’t and he and Victoria had always had a private instructor come in to teach them dance, hired by their father, and they had no real friends who learned with them.

These cats knew dance and it felt like they could understand him, if only based on that connection. He'd almost forgotten all about his anxiety and his powers, as he just kept dancing.

Which, of course, was when he tripped. 

He had, for a small moment, forgotten he was wearing tight jeans and converse and not proper dancing shoes or tights and so when he moved to do an arabesque, he couldn't move his leg all the way up into the right position and at the same time he felt his shoes give out and he fell forward with a small cry.

The other tom immediately stopped and ran forward, grabbing him by the shoulder to steady him. "Whoa, are you alright, mate?” Mistoffelees nodded and smiled reassuringly, though internally he was cursing himself for being stupid. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. I just forgot for a moment that I'm not wearing the correct clothes and shoes for dancing like this.” 

"Well, it usually helps when you show up for rehearsals properly dressed.” Another voice joined the conversation and when Mistoffelees turned around he saw a tall, silver and black tabby with fluffy fur standing behind him, arms folded and an eyebrow raised. Though there was also a tiny smile on his face.

"Although, I take it you don't actually go here, right?” His smile grew a little and Mistoffelees immediately relaxed at that, knowing he wasn't in trouble. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged, taking the bag still hanging over his shoulder and showed it to the tom.

“Uh, no. No, I am not a student here. I'm actually looking for my sister, she left her bag at home and I came to give it to her.” 

The tom eyed the bag, then a smile broke out over his face and nodded, as if he had just solved a riddle. “Aah, so _you're_ Victoria's brother. Yeah, she's here. I think I heard her complain about forgetting her stuff a minute ago.”

The black and white tom came up to the stage with a grin of his face, turning towards the curtains and yelled, "Yo, Tori, your brother's here with your stuff!”

The silver tom smiled and rolled his eyes at the other cat and reached out his paw for Mistoffelees to shake. "My name is Munkustrap. That's Alonzo. We've heard a lot about you from Victoria.”

Mistoffelees eyed his paw warily before slowly reaching out his own paw to shake Munkustrap's, praying to The Everlasting Cat that he couldn't feel his paw tingling or the sparkles that threatened to come out at any moment. “It's a pleasure to meet you.” 

Munkustrap smiled, but before he could say anything else, the Calico Twins came running up to them and got up in Mistoffelees’ face, invading his personal space and making him stumble back a few steps.

“So, who have we got here?” The tom leaned in closer, inspecting his face and his whiskers twitched a little. 

These cats were seriously sucking the air right out of his personal space, which was very much not helping him keep himself calm enough to not have to worry about his powers.

The queen got closer too, her head tilted to the side and grinned cheekily at him, then looked to her twin. “Don't think he's from around here. Have you seen him before, Jerrie?”

The tom shook his head, smiling equally as coyly. "Never seen him before, Teazer.”

Mistoffelees swallowed and tried very hard to breathe normally, clutching at his paws to make sure nothing would happen, praying even harder for them to pull away.

_'Please, not in here. Everlasting Cat please, not in here.’_

Munkustrap rolled his eyes and grabbed them both the scruffs on their necks and pulled them away from Mistoffelees, leaving him free to breathe again. 

“Knock it off, both of you. You're making him uncomfortable.” 

Mistoffelees took a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth, slowly but surely calming down himself and his powers. And to their credit both of them had the decency to look sheepish and a bit embarrassed.

The tom rubbed his neck awkwardly, smiling sheepishly. “Terribly sorry mate, didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable.” 

The queen nodded, also looking very sheepish. “Yeah, we were just curious. You're not from around here, are ya?” Mistoffelees shook his head slowly without saying anything. 

“Misto? You're here?” 

Mistoffelees turned towards the new voice and saw Victoria come running out of the wings, still dressed in her pink dress, wrapping her arms around his neck with a wide smile on her face.

"Thank you for bringing my bag Misto, you're the best! I was just about to run home and get it myself, so you just saved me thirty minutes."

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes good naturedly, patting her on the back and nuzzled the side of her face. “Anytime, Tori. I mean, I would have called ahead so you'd know I was coming, but you apparently forgot your phone too.”

She growled in mock outrage and smacked him on the shoulder before yanking her bag from his paw and stomped back into the wings to change.

“I take it back. You are not the best anymore.” She muttered as she disappeared behind the curtains, her tail swishing back and forth in indignation

By this point Plato had come out onto the stage and he smirked teasingly at Mistoffelees, his paws on his hips. "Not a performer, huh?”

Mistoffelees shrugged and smirked back. "Hey, Victoria said I was a dancer, just like her. I just don't perform.” 

The white and brown Tom who had danced with him came up and lightly punched him in the shoulder, making him wince and step back, only barely keeping his discomfort off his face. 

“Well, you should! You're great!” He smirked and reached out his paw for Mistoffelees. “I'm Tumblebrutus, by the way.” He then gestured behind him towards the other white and brown cat and the calico twins, “That's my brother, Pouncival. And you've already met Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. Is Misto your full name?”

Mistoffelees took his paw and shook it, a smile on his face. “No, it's just a nickname. My name is Mistoffelees.”

The calico queen, Rumpleteazer, smirked at him. "Mistoffelees? That's kind of a mouthful, isn't it?”

Mistoffelees snorted and folded his arms over his chest, smirking back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Says the cat named Rumpleteazer.” 

Munkustrap shook his head with a small snort and then came up to Mistoffelees, smiling softly to him. “Seriously though, how come you don't go here? You've got some real talent, you'd fit right in.”

Mistoffelees just shook his head. “Oh no, I'm not really into that whole, 'performing and being in the spotlight’ thing. That's not really my thing.” 

When he said that, every other cat around them either laughed or protested, and Victoria came up to him, now dressed in tights and ballet shoes, wrapping an arm around him and smirking at her schoolmates. 

“Don't believe him. If you were impressed by what he did now, then you should see him when he's going all in and giving it his all. I keep telling him he should go here but he keeps telling me he won't, because 'it's not who I am.'”

Mistoffelees shook his head and rolled his eyes at her mocking tone. He could already tell where this was going and he was not up for having this discussion _again_. 

“And on that note I will be leaving you to your rehearsals. It was nice to meet you all. I'll see you at home, Tori.” He shook off her arm and started to make his way towards the steps that led off the stage. But before he made it there, another cat jumped in front of him, blocking his way.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?” 

Another tom was standing in front of him. A tall maine coon with a big, fluffy mane and a motorcycle jacket over a leopard printed shirt, tight black jeans and leather boots. His mane and the fur on his head was very obviously styled with gel and he'd obviously put a lot of time and effort into his looks. And he was very handsome, but there was also a certain cockiness and attitude pouring out of him that almost immediately put Mistoffelees off. 

The queens seemed to really like him though, almost all of them either squealing as he entered the stage or sighing or staring at him dreamily.

The queen on the trapeze in particular seemed positively enamoured by him, squealing like a kitten as she stared dreamily at him.

He smirked down at Mistoffelees, being almost a foot taller than him and leaned against one of the props, a big car that was almost finished, save for a few details missing. 

“So we have a visitor here today? Straps, I'm hurt, how come you didn't tell me we were having a guest, I would've been here sooner.”

Munkustrap rolled his eyes and groaned, shaking his head and hiding his face in one paw. “No you wouldn't, Tugger. You'd still show up whenever you felt like it and you know it. And please don't harass Tori's brother."

Ah. So this was the famous Rum Tum Tugger, huh? 

Well, at least he was good-looking. At least Victoria was right about that. But Mistoffelees couldn't exactly see what was so alluring about him other than that.

Tugger shrugged, smirked and nodded lightly. “Well, yeah, obviously. But still, I love making new friends, you should tell me when new cats come around here.” He turned back to Mistoffelees and fluffed up his mane, smirking cockily down at him.

“So, I've obviously never seen you before. I'm sure I would remember such a pretty face.” Mistoffelees immediately blushed but he also got annoyed by the attitude he was given. 

_This_ was how this guy greeted strangers? Was he being serious?

Tugger either didn't notice or care about Mistoffelees’ obvious annoyance or discomfort and kept talking. “Well, let me be the first to introduce me properly. The name's Rum Tum Tugger. Yes, _The_ Rum Tum Tugger. I'm sure you've heard all about me."

Ugh, was this cat for real? Mistoffelees rolled his eyes, none too discreetly, and barely resisted the urge to scoff. Seriously, who did this guy think he was, the king of England? 

But he had been given a golden opening on a silver platter, and Mistoffelees had never been one to pass up an opportunity to fuck with others, so he just tilted his head to the side and gave him his best confused look.

“I'm sorry, who?”

The cocky smirk froze and Tugger stared down at him, completely dumbfounded. The room became almost entirely silent now, save for a loud snort from Munkustrap who tried to cover his smile with his paw but failed miserably. And the golden queen also let out a little snicker, with her fiery red friend smirking at Tugger.

Tugger glared over at Munkustrap before turning back to Mistoffelees, smiling charmingly at him, but now also a bit less confidently.

“Heh, funny guy we have here. I'm sure you must have heard about me, because I know for a fact that _everyone_ knows of The Rum Tum Tugger."

Mistoffelees smiled innocently, but cackled on the inside as he saw the facade crumble, even if it was by a little.

“Oh, maybe that's true. Victoria might have mentioned you once or twice, but I must have forgotten about it. Please don't take it personally, my brain has _very_ limited space for unimportant information. You must've just slipped in between the cracks, I guess."

A low ‘ooh’ was heard among all the other toms in the room, following the exchange with vivid interests. Munkustrap laughed even louder, now covering his mouth with his whole paw, his eyes sparkling with mirth and his shoulders were shaking with every laugh. Alonzo also looked very amused by the scene, though the queens around them either looked outraged or shocked beyond compare. All except for Victoria, who looked amused and shook her head fondly at her brother.

Tugger looked even more exasperated and annoyed at how this exchange had taken a complete u-turn, and was now trying to turn it back around in the direction he wanted. Mistoffelees smirked mentally but made sure to keep his face blank, arms folded over his chest and looked Tugger straight in the eyes.

Tugger smirked and leaned against the car, though his eyes were darting back and forth a bit. “Heh, well then, allow me to officially introduce myself to you, gorgeous. I am The Rum Tum Tugger, but please, call me Tugger. And you are?” He reached out a paw for Mistoffelees to shake, but Mistoffelees just stared up at him with a raised eyebrow and a blank look on his face.

“Unimpressed.” 

More chuckles were heard around them, but Tugger tried to pretend he didn't hear it, just got up from his reclined position against the car and walked further across the stage, still smirking but Mistoffelees was pleased to see his facade to weaken even more.

“Well, I see you've already met my big brother,” He turned to glare at Munkustrap, who was still chuckling and trying to cover it up as best he could and pressed his lips together to suppress a smirk. “But I can guarantee you that you won't find much fun with him. I got all the looks, the charm and the talent from the gene pool.” 

Munkustrap rolled his eyes, though his smile kinda ruined his annoyed look. But Mistoffelees just smirked lightly, leaning on one leg as he eyed the tom in front of him, trying desperately to appear cool in front of him.

“Well, I guess that left him with the brains.”

That was too much for Munkustrap. He laughed out loud, leaning forward and placing his paws on his knees to remain upright as he laughed, tears streaming down his face. And a lot of the other toms around him joined in, laughing and jeering at Tugger, who were now completely flabbergasted and stared at Mistoffelees with wide eyes. 

_'Checkmate, you Wannabe Casanova’_

Alonzo cackled and wiped at his eyes, grinning at Tugger with a teasing smirk on his face. “What is _this_ we're seeing? The Rum Tum Tugger, Cat Charmer Extraordinaire rejected for the first time ever? Oh, the horror!” Then he laughed even harder, slapping his knee as he laughed.

Poor Munkustrap gasped for breath between his laughs, his fur drenched with tears and smiling so wide it threatened to split his face in two. He turned to Victoria, who was also laughing, but not as hard and was covering her mouth with her paw.

“Vi-Victoria? I-I really, really li-like your brother.” Then he started to laugh again, which only made her laugh more.

Pouncival and Tumblebrutus were hanging off each other, and Pouncival pointed to Tugger with a wide grin. “Look at him! He‘s gone speechless!” 

The fiery red queen, who didn't laugh but smirked very widely, walked up to him and ran her tail over his face as she passed him, waving the tip of her tail right under his nose.

"What's the matter, Tugger? Cat got your tongue?” He snapped out of his stare and glared at the queen, swatting at her with his fluffy tail. 

“Shut up, Bomba,” Then he turned back to Misto, who was smirking at him, arms still folded over his chest and raised his eyebrows, as to say _'well, I'm waiting.’_

But Tugger didn't really say anything, just stared at him, then smirked and laughed softly. “Well damn, kitten. I like your style, you got gusto.” He placed his paws on his hips and looked him up and down, as if judging him and how he looked. 

Mistoffelees just rolled his eyes and turned to Victoria and said, in the most deadpan and dry tone he could manage. "Oh Sweet Everlasting Cat Tori, did you hear that? _The_ Rum Tum Tugger has decided that he likes me. Oh, I can finally die a happy cat.” He fanned himself with a paw and slumped back against the car prop, making the other cats smile and laugh again. Then he stood up straight smiled to Victoria and waved at her.

“Anyway, I really should be off. I'll leave you to your rehearsals. It was very nice meeting most of you. See you at home, Tori.” 

But as he turned to leave, he felt someone grasp at his wrist and it took all of his self control to not flinch and yank it away. He looked up and saw the golden queen standing there with a gentle smile. 

“Are you sure you don't wanna stick around for a bit? It's always nice to get some feedback from an outsider.” Her voice was soft and kind and her grip on him was loose, easy to break away from.

He gently pulled his arm back and smiled. “Oh no, that's fine. I wouldn't wanna get in the way of your rehearsing.”

Munkustrap, who finally seemed to have calmed down enough to be able to breathe again, smiled and shook his head. “Oh it's no bother at all. There's plenty of space and it's always nice to have an audience member who can give their thoughts on a number or solo.” He then side-eyed his brother and smirked teasingly at him.

“Besides, it's always good to find someone who can keep my flirtatious little brother in check.” Tugger stuck out his tongue at his brother with arms folded over his chest before he fluffed up his mane and stalked over to other side of the stage.

Mistoffelees bit his lip, turning to look at Victoria, who smiled encouragingly and nodded at him. Plato, who stood beside her, also smiled reassuringly at him and gave him thumbs up.

He took a deep breath. This was a bad idea, he knew it was. He knew the best thing to do was to keep his distance, and the best way to do that was to leave the building and go someplace else. Someplace with as few people as possible, or better yet, non at all. 

But… he liked it here. Even though the other cats kinda put him on edge and he was very uncomfortable with all the touching and getting up close in his personal space, he liked them too. Their energy and all the dancing and music and camaraderie was infectious. And the fact that they were very quickly welcoming him into their midst was… very nice actually.

And, to his shock and surprise, his paws were not tingling or sparkling constantly, warning him that his magic was there and threatening to come out and blow his cover at any given moment unless he kept himself on his leash.

In fact, while he was still his reserved and shy self, he had a much easier time talking to these cats than any of the ones at his old school.

_'Huh, interesting.’_

He swallowed and gnawed on his lip. “I… suppose I could stick around for a little while?” And the words barely left his mouth before Tumblebrutus came running up him with a wide grin.

“Awesome! Come on, over here, it's Victoria and Plato's time to practice! You can watch with us from over here!” He grabbed Mistoffelees by the arm and dragged him over to Pouncival, Rumpleteazer and Mungojerrie and sat him down on the floor before sitting down beside him, grinning widely.

Mistoffelees barely had any time to process having been grabbed and dragged across the stage and decide whether he was offended or not before Victoria and Plato came out on the stage as everyone moved to the sides and sitting down to watch, and got into position before starting to dance to slow, gentle piano and strings. And while still a little uncomfortable by how close the other cats were sitting to him, he had to admit to himself that this was a very nice way to spend his Sunday.

But still, it was a one-off. It had to be. He knew he couldn't get too close to these other cats, it was too risky. Because even if they were really nice and welcoming, they could never know about his secret. They would turn away immediately without a second thought.

Still, it was nice. Very nice. And he would make sure to enjoy it while it lasted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so part 1 is finished! I really hope you liked it! I also really hope I did these characters justice, considering I'm still new to writing these characters. 
> 
> Stay tuned for part 2!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mistoffelees reflects on meeting Victoria’s friends and the showcase takes a dramatic turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So, this chapter turned out to be way longer than I expected it to be, so I decided to split it in two, because otherwise it would be too long. So there will be part 3 to this.

* * *

In the end Mistoffelees ended up staying in the school auditorium for the whole day. And while he still kept his distance from the others cats, not opening his mouth if he didn't have to and made sure keep at least foot between himself and the others, he still found himself having a very good time. When they weren't practicing or talking about structure of the show or in what order the acts should be placed or something like that, they were spending a lot of time talking and laughing, playing games with each other or goofing around.

It was very chaotic and a lot to take in, both mentally and emotionally, but it had been very fun. They'd had also ordered pizza for a late lunch and gave him a few slices, despite him barely talking and had nothing to contribute to any of their conversations or discussions.

Victoria made sure to always stay close, taking his paw reassuringly or gave gentle nuzzles whenever he felt overwhelmed or anxious, but he felt surprisingly at ease around most of the other cats.

Munkustrap had been very nice and thanked him for, quote, 'knocking his idiot brother down a peg’ and had welcomed him into the group with open arms. And he also seemed to be the only one who to pick up when he was uncomfortable and would help keeping the others from making him too anxious.

And his best friends, Alonzo and Demeter and her sister, Bombalurina, or Bomba as she was called by everyone else, had also been welcoming and amused by how he had played with Tugger the way he had. While Demeter was gentle and kind, Bombalurina and Alonzo were a bit more forward and unafraid of making jokes with him.

Especially if they were at Tugger’s expense. 

Speaking of which, Tugger had kept his distance at first, sitting and just staring at him for a long time, like he was some kind of riddle or enigma that he was trying to figure out. Because Heaviside forbid that someone _not_ be interested in The Rum Tum Tugger and turned down his advances. But eventually he strolled over and kept trying to sit closer to him, or crack a joke or try a flirty comment. But Mistoffelees just kept rolling his eyes and moved to sit somewhere else without saying a word, making a point of turning his nose up at him and waving him off with his tail.

It was clearly driving the other tom crazy, and Mistoffelees lived for it. 

Tumblebrutus and Pouncival kept trying to convince him to join in their dances again, even offering to lend him a pair of shoes and tights so he'd be able to dance better, but he kept turning them down. He'd already danced in front of an audience once today, he was not in the mood to do it again.

He didn't even understand what had possessed him to do it in the first place, but now he was way too self conscious to do it again. 

He had a facade and a wall to keep up, after all.

But at the end of the day, when everyone packed up their stuff, said their goodbyes and went home, he was surprisingly happy with his day.

Victoria smiled widely at him, bumping her shoulder against his as they walked home. "So, what do you think of my friends?"

Mistoffelees shrugged, trying not to smile and looked away from her, trying desperately to hide his blush. Everlasting, he hated it whenever she got this smug. 

“Eh, they were fine. Kinda chaotic, but pretty alright.” She laughed and shook her head, which irked him. Why did his sister have to know him so well? Did they have some kind of psychic bond that only twins had that allowed her to read him like a book, or something?

Considering he had been born with magic powers, it didn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility. 

“Well, at least they seemed to really like you. Tugger in particular seemed _very_ interested in you.” He turned to her with an incredulous look, which turned into a blank stare when he saw her smug smile. He rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Oh joy, I've got your school's himbo after me. Lucky me, I do love dumb blondes with no sense of common decency.” Which only made Victoria laugh harder and he couldn't help but chuckle along with her. 

But his happiness didn't last too long, because as they got closer and closer to their house, he remembered that their father would most likely be home by now and if he found out what Mistoffelees had been doing all day, he would most certainly not be happy. 

He never liked it when he spent more time than necessary around other cats.

He sighed and wrung his paws. Because, while he hadn't had to try as hard to keep his powers under control, his paws had been tingling all throughout the day, reminding him to not let anyone get too close.

“... You won't tell father about today, right?” His voice came out smaller than he had intended, but Victoria still heard him and gave him a tight hug, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze. 

“Don't worry, bro. I got your back.” She smiled and started to walk slower. “How about this; you were at the library today and were on your way home when I called and asked if you wanted to walk home with me and you came to meet me at school before we walked home together. Is that good?” 

And Everlasting, there were times like these when he really remembered why he loved his sister as much as he did. Because despite how she could be a pain in the tail from time to time and could get extremely annoying with all of her nagging, he could always count on her to have his back and save him from as much of their father overbearing nature as she could manage.

He smiled gratefully, squeezing her paw and nuzzled the side of her head, which she was eager to return. "Thanks, sis. You're the best.”

She purred as she returned his nuzzle, licking his cheek lovingly. “Anytime, Misto.”

Their father was, indeed, home by the time they got home, and dinner was already served when they made it into the dining room. 

Bustopher Jones was a very fat cat, a 225 pounder and had always had an interest in good food, parties and culture. The only reason Victoria and Mistoffelees weren’t as big and round as their father was because of their interest in dance and it required a thin and light physique, or Bustopher most likely would have fed them until they looked exactly like him.

Still, at least they had never had to go hungry at any point in their lives.

Also, his big and soft body had always been great for long, warm hugs and he was always ready to give them to his kids.

Or… at least to Victoria. 

It had been such a long time since Mistoffelees had been hugged by his father or given any meaningful physical displays of love and affection, he couldn't even recall the last time.

And today was no different. As the siblings entered the room, Bustopher came up to them with his arms wide open for his daughter and gave her a big, strong hug, lifting her off the floor and nuzzling the side of her head.

“Ah, Victoria, my sweet girl. It’s lovely to see you. I hope your rehearsals went well today.” She smiled widely and wrapped her arms around his neck, purring loudly as she returned his nuzzles.

“Yes daddy, it all went very well. Me and Plato have decided on our dance for the year, now all we have to do is practice, practice, practice until it's perfect.” 

He smiled as he set her back down on the floor and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking very proud of her as he did. “And I'm sure your dance will be lovely.” 

Mistoffelees looked at their exchange and tried his hardest to squelch his jealousy down, reminding himself again that it wasn't Victoria's fault that their father loved her more than him.

But still, it always felt rough to have it shoved in his face like this.

Bustopher then turned to look at Mistoffelees and he suddenly appeared more serious and stern, placing both paws behind his back and straightened his back, eyeing his son from head to toe.

"Son.” Mistoffelees took a breath and copied his stance, paws behind his back and back straight, his face blank and devoid of any emotion. 

“Father.” His father's face was always hard to read when he looked at him, but there was always this sad look in his eyes. As if just looking at his son made him sad.

Not that Mistoffelees could really blame him. He'd probably be sad if his son turned out to be a freak too.

Bustopher sighed and tried to smile at his son, though it only ended up looking stiff and forced. “And what have you been up to today?”

He always asked, though Mistoffelees always asked himself why he even bothered. The answer was almost always the same, and it's not like he actually cared anyway, so long as he didn’t draw any attention to himself.

“I was at the library. I was studying for a math test that's coming up next week.” His father nodded, his stiff smile still on his face.

"Good, good. Good to hear you still have a strong focus on your studies. Always a good quality for a any proper cat.”

_'Yeah, only I'm not the proper cat you want me to be.’_

Mistoffelees bowed his head. "Thank you father.” 

His father kept looking at him, that sad look on his face still remaining and he opened his mouth to say something, only to close it and sigh before smiling gently at his kids.

"Well then, let's eat.”

Dinner was always an awkward affair as far as Mistoffelees was concerned. Because Bustopher spent most of his time talking to Victoria, asking her how school was, how her friends were doing, how was her dance classes going, and tended to ignore his other child, leaving him to quietly eat his dinner before sneaking out of the dining room and to his bedroom.

And again, tonight was no different. Victoria started to talk about how the rehearsals were going, how much fun they'd had between all the work and how excited she was for the showcase. And Bustopher smiled and commented on how wonderful it was to see her so happy and how he was looking forward to seeing her and Plato dance. 

All while Mistoffelees tried to eat his dinner as quickly as possible without being noticed and fighting back hard against the tears. 

Victoria kept looking over at him, obviously noticing how upset he was despite his attempts to hide it and she kept trying to steer the conversation away from herself and ask questions about Mistoffelees’ day was or how he was doing in school, but he kept his answers short and non-descriptive.

Bustopher looked over at his son, who was keeping his head down and eyes locked on his dinner plate, shoveling salmon, potatoes and greens into his mouth with a very mechanical movement, looking more like a robot than a cat.

He sighed and took a bite of his own dinner. His relationship with his son had been very… strained, in the last few years. Ever since he was little and had shown signs of being a magic cat, Bustopher had been very worried over what might happen to him if the world found out about what he was and what he could do. So he'd done everything he could to teach his son how to control his powers and keep them hidden, so no one would try to hurt or hunt him down. 

Anything to keep his little boy safe.

But somewhere in the messiness of teaching Mistoffelees about how unaccepting and scared the world would be of his powers, their relationship had completely fallen apart. As Mistoffelees grew more distant, cold and quiet, kept more and more to himself and spent most of his time studying or dancing, Bustopher grew more and more handfallen and had no idea to reach his son anymore. They barely spoke with each other and he had no idea how to act or what to do around his son. Victoria had always been easy to understand and know how to handle. She had always been very affectionate and loving, eager to learn and try out her wings. He knew her like the back of his own paw and always knew how to put a smile on her face or what to talk about with her.

With Mistoffelees, he had no clue where to even begin. He loved his children more than anything and wanted him and his son to have the same kind of loving relationship that he had with his daughter, but he also knew he had to protect him from a cruel and unforgiving world that might try to hurt him through no fault of his own. 

And perhaps that was for the better? Maybe keeping his son safe yet sacrificing a strong and loving relationship with him was the lesser of two evils? Heaviside knows he’d gladly give up his own happiness for his son to be able to live his life without being scared or hunted. 

So why did it hurt so much to see his son look at him with such lack of emotion? To only have him call him father instead of dad?

He only wanted his son to safe and to be happy. And while he was definitely safe, he was most definitely not happy. 

Mistoffelees swallowed the last of his dinner and took his plate and glass to the dishwasher before making his way out the room. 

“Thanks for the dinner. I'll be in my room.” Victoria looked after him with sad eyes and Bustopher looked up as he headed towards the door.

“Mistoffelees?” Mistoffelees turned around in the doorway to look at his father, looking a little surprised and a little expecting.

_'Maybe this is it. Maybe he'll finally open up to me or say something meaningful to me.'_

Bustopher looked at him as he stood in the doorway and wracked his brain for anything good to say to his son. Anything at all that was about more than school or the weather, but came up with nothing.

_'Why was talking to your own son so damn difficult?'_

Eventually he just sighed and straightened his back, smiling stiffly at him. "Don't stay up too late studying, son. You have school tomorrow."

Mistoffelees felt himself deflate but still kept his back straight and nodded with his default blank face. “I won't father. Good night.”

And with that he walked out of the room and headed up the stairs to his bedroom.

Once he had made it into his room, he quickly opened his window and climbed out, climbing up onto the roof and sat down on the dormer, he legs drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped around his knees, only barely holding back his tears. 

He climbed out on the roof a lot and had been doing it ever since he was a kitten and old enough to climb. Sometimes he did it to look at the stars or to think, but for the most part it was because he wanted to be left alone with his feelings and it was the only place where he could use his magic without anyone seeing. 

He drew a shaky breath and raised his paws to his face, looking at them as sparkles danced over his fingers and claws, which finally pushed him over the edge and he allowed himself to cry, folding his arms on his knees, burying his face in his arms.

Because while normally this was nothing new or out of the ordinary for their normal family routines, it stung so much more today than it usually did. 

Because today he had gotten the taste of something different. Something that had felt so much better. 

Victoria’s friends had never met him before, had probably only heard about him from Victoria, maybe she had shown some pictures, but they had met him for the first time today. And yet they had welcomed him into their world for a day, letting him watch them dance and sing and play, shared food with him and had talked and joked and acted like he was one of their own.

They knew nothing about him, other than Victoria had told them he was a great dancer and maybe a few other things she might have said about him, but they didn't know his story. Didn't know about his secret or just how much of a freak he truly was, but they had welcomed him in anyway. For seemingly no other reason than that he was his sister's brother and he had danced with a few of them. 

And despite how strange and out of his element he had felt, it had been so very nice to have someone look at him and treat him like an equal. Someone who didn't look at him funny, or make jokes about him being a mute or a freaky loner and just saw another Cat that they could be friends with. 

For the first time in his life, he'd felt like he was part of something. 

And was that really so much to ask for? Was he being greedy for wishing and wanting someone to truly see him. To have a group of friends who might care about him for who he really was? To not go through his life completely invisible?

To have someone remember his damn name? 

He'd like to believe he wasn’t, but considering what he had been born to be, maybe he was asking for too much. Maybe he was just destined to be invisible and unhappy for his entire life? 

Mediocre, not special, with no effect on the roll around him. Unseen, unloved and unwanted. 

His vision got blurry as the tears kept flowing and his pants and fur got soaked, his tail wrapped around himself and his body starting shake as he started sobbing. 

Because how sad wasn't it when a group of complete strangers had shown more care and affections for you under the span of a few hours than your own dad had over the course of several years?

“Misto?” He tensed and refused to look up from his arms, but he still knew his sister had climbed up on the roof after him, quietly crawling over to his side, settling down close beside him on the dormer and placed a gentle paw on his shoulder. 

“Misto, are you okay?” 

He still refused to look up from his arms, but started shaking even harder as his sobs got more intense. He could feel his paws tingle and he gripped his forearms so tightly that his claws cut through the fabric of his shirt and into his skin. 

Victoria's paw gently stroke his shoulder and back and she leaned into his body, nuzzling the side of his head and licking away the tears she could reach from his face. 

"Misto, please, talk to me. Don't shut me out right now. Not me. I'm here for you, let me help you.”

Mistoffelees sniffled before finally looking up from his arms, just enough to get a small peek of his sister’s only seeing her bright white fur and blue eyes as a blur through his tears.

He swallowed several times, taking a breath to try and steady his voice. But when finally found his voice, it still came out weak and fragile, barely above a whisper and cracking on every other word.

“W-why… why does h-he hate me, Tori?” 

“Oh Misto…” Her face scrunched up in pity and sorrow and wrapped now arm around his shoulder, gently pulling him into her embrace before wrapping the other arm around him and pulling him into a tight hug, letting him rest his head on her shoulder and held him close. 

Mistoffelees clung to his sister tightly, burying his face in her fur and let her whisper comforting words into his ear. He knew she would say things like _‘he doesn't hate you Misto’_ or _‘he does love you, he just doesn't know how to show it’_ and other things like that, but he had long since stopped listening to that. He knew that she was only trying to make him feel better and he appreciated it, but her words felt pretty empty at this point.

He knew that his father ashamed of having his son turn out wrong. That he would rather have a normal son, like Victoria was a normal daughter. And no matter what she said to him, he knew the truth and that she was only trying to make him feel better. 

He had long since resigned himself to the fact that his father would never love him the same way he loved his sister- if at all. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt, especially after having gotten a much better treatment from Victoria's friends today.

Still, it meant so much to know he had his sister in his corner. She had always loved his powers, ever since they were little and even as he grew more and more scared and unsure, trying desperately to keep himself and his powers hidden, she had always been there to support and show he was loved by at least someone in his family.

It wasn't much. But it was much, much better than nothing.

* * *

In the next following weeks, Victoria spent most of her time practicing her dance with Plato. Sometimes she invited Plato over and they practiced in their family’s private dance studio and all the other times they were at school with her other schoolmates.

And Mistoffelees found himself looking for excuses to go to her school as well, whenever he knew she would be there practicing with the others. Sometimes he'd go during lunch break and ask if Tori wanted to eat together. Other times he showed up late in the days and waited for her so they could walk home together.

But for the most part he just came straight after school was over sat there and watched them practice as he did his homework. He kept using the excuse that was he was just looking after his sister and 'there's nothing better to do at home‘ but he could see Victoria smile smugly every time he walked into the auditorium. 

He also saw the other cats smile as he came to watch them. Munkustrap made a point to greet him every time and ask how he was doing, how school was going and act as friendly as possible. 

Mistoffelees really thought he only liked as much as he did was because he was the only one in the room who would had none of Tugger's flirting and gave him no attention, save for the occasional eye-roll or shake of the head. 

Speaking of Tugger, he also made a point to greet and welcome Mistoffelees whenever he came around. Though, he had to him credit, he was extremely dedicated. Mistoffelees would have thought he'd lose interest eventually, but he kept trying to win him over with flirty comments or jokes or wrap his tail suggestively around him as he winked.

Which made it all the more fun to give him as little attention as possible. He didn’t rise to the bait, he didn't raise his voice or get angry, he just kept shrugging him off and ignored him, which only drove the other tom even more crazy.

Though he made a point to not show up every day, since that would raise too many questions he didn't want to answer, especially not to himself. Besides, there was only so much of sister's smugness that he could take. 

Speaking of which, Victoria and Plato's dance was really coming along well. It was a beautiful mix between classic ballet and something a bit more modern, with a slow and majestic start before devolving into something very energetic and bouncy and it was very fun to watch.

The choreography was very advanced and complicated, and Mistoffelees had actually found himself helping Plato out with the dance whenever they were practicing at his and Victoria's house. Not to say Plato was a bad dancer or anything, but Mistoffelees was just a little better at the ballet part than him. 

Although that was probably because, aside from school, all Mistoffelees ever did was dance. In some small ways he was probably a little better than Victoria.Though just barely, and only because Victoria also had acting classes, singing classes and a lot of other classes, so she didn't have quite as much time for one singular dance anymore. 

So, as the showcase drew closer and closer, he did spend quite a bit of time around Victoria and her friends, though still making sure to keep his distance, usually seated in front of the stage with his laptop and doing his homework or just looking at the dancing and singing. Though he did also talk a bit with Munkustrap or Tumblebrutus or whoever wasn't performing at the time. 

Well, they did most of the talking while he pretended to work with his homework, but still.

On the day of the showcase, just after having gotten out of school, Mistoffelees made his way into the auditorium to look over the dress rehearsals a bit before going home. And as he walked into the room, the students had already started with their rehearsal and were in the middle of singing and dancing to their school song.

Just as he entered, the melody had turned into something very much like a psalm, very angel and beautiful, as all the students were standing in a pyramid with their arms held out in front of themselves.

_"The mystical divinity of unashamed felinity._

_Round the cathedral rang 'Vivat'_

_Life to the everlasting cat!"_

Mistoffelees quietly walked down the aisle and up closer to the stage, slow enough to draw any attention to himself and also so he could absorb the whole performance in its entirety. Because even though he'd seen it a few times during the rehearsals, it still looked and sounded so amazing. 

He even found himself quietly singing along to the last few lines, which sounded very much like a pledge of allegiance. 

_"Feline, fearless, faithful and true_

_To others who do-what."_

And just like that it changed into the fast and energetic melody and the cats on stage flew back into an equally energetic dance.

_"Jellicles do and jellicles can"_

_"Jellicles can and jellicles do"_

_"Jellicle cats sing jellicle chants"_

_"Jellicles old and jellicles new"_

_"Jellicle song and jellicle dance"_

_"Jellicle songs for jellicle cats"_

_"Jellicle songs for jellicle cats"_

_"Jellicle songs for jellicle cats"_

_"Jellicle songs for jellicle cats"_

The dance was a lot of fun to watch and, once again, Mistoffelees felt himself jittering with energy and found himself wanting to join in on the fun.

If only it wasn't on a stage.

As he came closer to the stage, Tugger looked up as the dance came to a close and smirked before theatrically pointing to him, making Mistoffelees freeze and stare back him, feeling strangely taken aback and offended.

_"There's a man over there, with a look of surprise. As much as to say, well now how about that."_

Mistoffelees smiled, still a bit unsure, as everyone turned to him, equally as theatrically and looked at him as if he was a complete stranger.

Munkustrap came jogging up beside Tugger, staring at Mistoffelees with a very offended look on his face, although obviously played up for dramatic effect, before getting down on all fours and leaning out over the stage and looking at him with a tilted head, tail swishing back and forth.

 _“Do I actually see, with my own very eyes, a man who's not heard of a Jellicle Cat?”_

His face scrunched up indignantly and his tails swished, equally as indignantly.

 _“_ _What's_ _a Jellicle Cat?”_

He sounded so offended that Mistoffelees couldn't help but laugh and shrug innocently. “I don't know, you tell me."

And with that Munkustrap dropped the act and chuckled, straightened up and smiled down at him. “Hi Mistoffelees. Coming to look at Tori, or are you here to see all of us?”

Mistoffelees smirked and shrugged. “Hey, who's to say I'm not just here for the music? You guys are kinda boring, but at least you can sing and dance fairly decently.” Which made Munkustrap laugh again before walking back to the group of dancers, grabbing a bottle of water from the floor.

“Okay guys, let's take a breather before we move on to Victoria and Plato's number. Great job everyone.” 

Victoria came running over to him, dressed in her beautiful white dress with pearls that made her shine under the spotlights, as well as pure white leggings and leg warmers and ballet shoes. Her fur was also shining beautifully, not a hair out of place. 

“Hi Misto!” She gave him a quick and light hug and smiled brightly, her blue eyes sparkling like stars. “How long are you sticking around today?”

He smiled and adjusted his school bag, still hanging over one shoulder. “Not very long. Just wanted to come and tell you to break a leg before going home. Father is going to meet up with me before we come here.” 

She smiled widely, grabbing his arm and yanking on it. “Oh please, stick around for a bit! Just to see me and Plato, then you can go if you want!”

He smiled wryly and tilted his head at her. “You don't want to save anything for tonight? You'd think that showing your number before the show will give away how beautiful it will be?”

Plato came sauntering over to them, relaxed smile on his face and his paws on his hips. “Yeah Tori, let's not give away how great it's going to look ahead of time.” He smirked teasingly. “He might not enjoy the show anymore if he's already seen majority of it anyway.” 

Mistoffelees smiled. But before he could answer, Tugger came swanning into their conversation, paws resting lazily on his belts, his annoying smirk plastered on his face. 

“Aw come on, Plato. As if he will get bored during the show. After all, I'm still in it. And who could ever get bored of watching me?” Plato rolled his eyes and lightly shoved Tugger away, which just made Mistoffelees smiled a very small smile.

Yeah, Plato had definitely grown on him. 

Tugger then turned to Mistoffelees, winking coyly before kneeling down on the stage, smirking down at him.

_'Still haven't given up yet, I see.'_

"Well hello again, gorgeous. I was hoping you'd show up today, I’ve been thinking about you a lot.” Mistoffelees rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

“Well I guess that makes one of us.” Then he turned back to Victoria, but before he could say anything a new voice cut in.

Though not a student this time.

“Oy!” He nearly jumped out of his skin at the loud voice and looked up like a deer caught in headlights as a large ginger cat with a thick Scottish accent made his way over to him, looking very sternly at him. 

“This area is for students only! Audience isn't allowed in yet.” Mistoffelees drew back, ears folded back against his skulls and tail between his legs.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I was just-” But Victoria cut him off, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, smiling at the other cat.

“It's okay, Skimbleshanks, he's with me. He was just stopping by before going home, that's all." She then turned back to her brother. “Misto, this is Skimbleshanks. He's one of the dance teachers."

The ginger cat, Skimbleshanks, looked him over with a critical eye before turning to Victoria. “Spending time with your boyfriend is for your free time, Victoria, you know this.”

Both Mistoffelees and Victoria's eyes flew open, stared at him, then each other and then jumped apart with disgusted looks on their faces.

“Ugh, gross!"

“Ew, that's messed up!"

Skimbleshanks went from looking stern to a bit shocked at their reactions. Tugger laughed and shook his head and smirked at the teacher, only barely holding back a laugh.

“Uh, Skimble, they're brother and sister. Not a couple.” Victoria gagged and shook her head. 

"Okay, I've heard a lot of questions how Misto and I are related, but _that's-_ “ She gagged again and stuck her tongue out. “Ugh, that's a new one.” Mistoffelees shook his head and shuddered.

“Yeah, I have to admit I've never heard _that_ one before.”

Skimbleshanks came up to them both, and to his credit he looked very sheepish and rubbed the back his head, his ears folded back embarrassedly.

“Eh, terribly sorry. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.” He then turned to Victoria, smiling weakly and equally as apologetically. “So, this is the brother you've been talking about, huh?”

She smiled, her disgust now gone and wrapped her arms around Mistoffelees, pulling him close. “Yup! This is Mistoffelees, my dear, sweet baby brother!”

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes as hard as he could and shoved her off, a tired smirk on his face. “I'm only seven minutes younger than you Tori, don't go around telling lies about us."

Skimbleshanks smirked at him, folding his arms over his chest. “Ah, so you're twins, I see. Well, my utmost apologies to you, lad, but this area is reserved for students at the moment. I can overlook it for now, but I will have to ask you to leave very soon. I hope you understand.”

Mistoffelees nodded, all too eager to be over with with this conversation already. His powers were making his paws tingle like crazy and he could feel a few sparkles want to come out of his claws.

“Of course, sir. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I was just coming to check up on Tori before going home.” No need to mention how he'd been coming here a bit more often than just today. What Skimbleshanks didn't know he wouldn't be killed for.

He smiled at Victoria, waved and adjusted his bag. “Well, I'll see you later tonight Tori.” He turned towards the stage and waved at Plato and the others. “Break a leg, guys!” 

They waved him off and smiled and Victoria and Plato got up on the stage to practice their number, which Mistoffelees took as his que to leave. 

But then, just as he reached the doors, he heard a yell, a thud and a scream.

“ _OW_! Fuck, Cettie you idiot!”

Mistoffelees turned around so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. Plato was half-lying on the stage, clutching his foot in pain and glaring up at one of the queens, who looked equal parts horrified and guilty, tears forming in her eyes. 

“I'm so sorry, Plato! I had totally forgotten I had left it there. Are you okay?” Plato groaned in pain and rubbed his foot and ankle, grimacing as he tried to move his foot around.

Mistoffelees completely ignored the fact that he wasn't allowed in the room and ran back to the stage, throwing his bag into one of the seats, joining all the other cats on stage who were checking on Plato, hurrying up beside Victoria. 

Munkustrap came running up, kneeling down next to Plato and looked over his leg before back at the other cats. "What happened?”

Etcetera, an energetic and somewhat absent-minded queen with orange and black stripes, picked up a water bottle from the floor and blinked hard to fight back tears. “I left my water bottle lying on stage and he tripped over it. I forgot that I left it there. I'm sorry.”

Munkustrap rolled his eyes hard, shook his head and face-palmed himself. “Damn it, Etcetera, we've talked about this! You can't leave things out in the middle of the stage like this. Someone is doomed to get hurt that way.”

Plato grimaced and massaged his ankle, gritting his teeth. “Yeah, no shit.” He grumbled, looking and sounding much more angry than Mistoffelees ever could have imagined from the normally laid-back tom. 

Skimbleshanks kneeled down next to his other side, gently looking over his foot and ankle, which just made him grimace and hiss in pain.

"Hm, well it doesn't appear to be broken or badly damaged, but you should go over to Jenny's office and get it looked at anyway. I highly doubt you're going to be able to dance tonight."

Plato groaned in despair and turned to Victoria, looking extremely apologetically, his ears folded back and whiskers drooping. “I'm really sorry, Victoria.”

She sighed heavily and tried to smile, but Mistoffelees could see she was really disappointed underneath that smile. “It's okay. You just focus on getting better, I'll be fine.” 

Skimbleshanks carefully helped Plato up on his good foot, placing one arm over his shoulders and waved Alonzo over. “Help me get him to Jenny's office. Munkustrap, keep an eye on things for me until I come back.”

Alonzo came up and placed Plato's other arm around his shoulders and they slowly started to help him down the stage and out of the auditorium. 

Bombalurina sighed and crossed her arms, leaning back against the wall, her tail swishing back and forth. “Great. Now what are we supposed to do?” 

Victoria sighed, only barely fighting the tears back as she sat down on a bench, resting her head in her paws. “Strike our number, I guess.” She mumbled and Mistoffelees’ heart just about broke as she saw how sad and disappointed she was. He walked over to the bench, wrapping an arm around her and hugged her.

“I'm so sorry, Tori. I know how much this meant to you." She didn't answer him, but she leaned into his embrace and nuzzled her face against his cheek.

Munkustrap stood a few feet away, stuck in deep contemplation and rested his chin in one paw. Then he looked around the stage at his schoolmates. 

“Hold on. Isn’t there anyone else here who think they might be able to go in Plato's place? Anyone who knows the choreography enough to jump in?” No one said anything, either shaking their heads or looking around to see if anyone was nodding or raising their paw. But no one did. 

Demeter shook her head, arms folded and leaning on one leg. “Plato is one of our best ballet dancers, we don't have anyone one else on his level of skill who is not already preoccupied with other numbers."

Then, from out of nowhere, Tumblebrutus spoke up.

“Yes, we do.” Which made everyone turn to him and he smiled wider as he got everyone's attention. “Yes, we do.” He repeated and then turned to the bench where Mistoffelees and Victoria were sitting.

“You're a dancer too, right?”

Mistoffelees' head snapped up, frozen under everyone's attention and staring at Tumblebrutus then looked around as he saw everyone else looking at him too, shifting in his seat and trying to move away.

“...what?”

Victoria looked up from her paws, suddenly looking extremely hopeful and grinned as she caught onto what was being implied here.

Munkustrap looked at him, a smile slowly spreading over his face. “That's not a bad idea. That might actually work.”

Pouncival grinned as he got what his brother was saying. “Yeah, Victoria has said you've danced as long as she has. And we've all seen you dance."

And just at the second did Mistoffelees catch on to what was being suggested and he flew up from his seat.

“Wait, wait, you're not saying that-“ And his blood froze in his veins when he saw them and nod and smile at him.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no I've only helped them practice a bit at home, nothing else. Besides, I don't even go to this school. I can't just-"

Demeter walked up and gently grabbed him, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiled encouragingly. “You know this whole number inside out; the music, the choreography and everything! You've watched Tori and Plato practice for weeks, you know this! You can totally do this."

Mistoffelees shook his head, face frozen in a state between shock or horror. “Nu-uh. I really, really can't.” 

Etcetera nodded at him, smiling widely and excited. “Yes you can! We've all seen you dance, you can totally pull this off!”

_'Yeah, but that's not really the problem here, now is it?’_

“I really, really can't do it! Seriously, I can't!” 

"Why not?” Bombalurina asked, shrugging and raised an eyebrow, head tilted to the side. 

_‘Why not?! As if I really have to tell them half the reasons why not.’_

He stared at her with his dry expression and raised his paw, listing up the reasons. “1. I'm not a student here. 2. I _hate_ performing in front of others. 3. I have never even _tried_ to dance the full dance which is just asking for trouble. And 4. The very thought standing on a stage in front of other cats makes me wanna throw up!”

Everyone stared at him, eyes wide and mouths hanging open. And Mistoffelees felt himself blush as he realized that he'd practically been yelling the last part. Victoria just looked at him with pity though, while everyone else was staring at the usually quiet cat. 

Munkustrap walked up to him, placing his hand on his shoulder, making Mistoffelees nearly jump out of his skin. 

“Look Mistoffelees, if you don't want to, you don't have to. No one is going to force you to do anything and if you want to leave, you can.” He gestured towards the doors before turning back to him again. “But we would really, really appreciate it if you would help us out here. I can talk to Skimbleshanks about it and sort the whole thing out. It would be just any other understudy.”

Demeter stepped forward, smiling gently and stroke his arm, nearly making him flinch back. "But again, you don't have to feel forced into anything. You're free to leave if you so wish."

He wanted to leave. There was absolutely nothing he wanted more at that moment than to run out of the room and all the way home, lock himself in his room and never once set foot in this school again. He could already feel the power inside him build up, his whole body was tingling and he felt about ready to burst any second now. He wouldn't be surprised if his paws were actually sparkling at the moment and he just couldn't let any of these cats know about what he was.

But if no one was able to fill in for Plato, then Victoria wouldn't be able to dance in the show, which meant so much to her. She had worked so hard these last few weeks and the last thing he wanted was to see her this upset. She had always been there for him, always giving support and love to him when he was weak and needed it, so what kind of brother would he be if he wasn't willing to do the same for her?

Still, if his father actually saw him on stage, in front of hundreds of other cats, he might actually go ahead and kill him. He had made a promise to stay hidden, keep a low profile, and this was about as far away from staying hidden as you could possibly get. 

He swallowed hard and turned to Victoria, looking at her pleadingly. “Tori, can I talk to for a moment?” He eyed the others for a second. “Alone?”

And thank Heaviside for how perceptive his sister was, because she nodded and lead him in behind the wings, going into a dressing room and looked the door behind them.

He sighed heavily and only barely held himself back from crying. “Tori, I can't do it! I really want to help you, I really do, but I can't do this! What if I lose control? What if I blow up something, or make another glitter bomb go off in the whole room or make something disappear? There is absolutely no way they could find a natural excuse for that! Father will kill me!"

She looked at comfortingly, placing her paws on his shoulders. “No he won’t. I'll talk to him, I'll make sure he won't lose his mind and he will understand. You know I'm good at buttering him up.”

He shook his head, his heart pounding hard in his chest. “I can't. I really wish I could, but I have never ever done this before! And even if I can keep my powers under control, father will never forgive me for doing this!” 

Victoria tried to smile, despite fighting hard against her own feelings about this. As much as she loved her brother, this showcase meant a lot to her and she'd make sure to fight until the last second to make sure she could dance tonight. 

“Dad will get over it. If I talk to him and say that it was my idea to make you dance, he will forgive you. I know he will, he always listens to me."

But Mistoffelees wasn't convinced. He bit his lip, folded his arms over his chest, looking down at the floor. “Tori, _please_ , don't make me do this. I can't do this, I really can't-"

Victoria grabbed his shoulders tighter, her claws digging into his skin and looked him dead in the eye. “Okay, listen to me Misto. If I can talk to dad and manage to get him to not freak out about this, will you consider doing it? Because from where I'm standing it sounds like that's the major thing here. You've never had an accident with your magic in public, Munkustrap has offered to talk to the teachers about this and I can talk to dad to smooth this over. So what else could go wrong?"

Her eyes softened and she stroke his cheek with one paw, wiping away one straw tear of fear and anxiety that escaped his eye, smiling comfortingly. 

“It'll be okay Misto.” Her smile then turned into a small frown and looked away. “Look, I won't force you if you really don't want to. I don't want you to do anything that makes you this uncomfortable, but I would _really_ appreciate it you could help me with this. Just the one dance, nothing more than that. You don't have to anything more than this one dance.” She then clasped her paws under her chin and gave small pout, complete with the kitten eyes, wide and big. 

“Please, Misto. Pretty please, just one little dance for your favorite big sister?”

And despite how the kitten eyes had little effect on him, her words did. She wasn't trying to guilt trip him, he knew that, though her desperate plea still moved him despite his attempts to stand his ground.

He absolutely hated her for having this power over him, but he felt so bad for her and didn't want her to sad or disappointed. Especially since she had put so much work into this performance.

And Mistoffelees knew his sister. He knew she would never allow anything bad to happen to him, either because of her schoolmates or their father. She had always fought tooth and nail for him and would never ask him to do something like this and then throw him to the Pollicles once it all was over and their father came and would question what he was doing on a stage. She had stuck by him through thick and thin, and he really ought to be able to suck it up and do the same for her for once.

And he supposed he could get through one single dance on stage, which would only last for a few minutes. 

For his sister.

He swallowed thickly, closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten in his head. He could feel his power surge through his body like a wild horse, fighting to be released.

He could feel his entire body tingle and shake, barely holding in his magic and he had trouble breathing through the anxiety and fear. But he managed to take a deep breath and swallow it down, along with his lunch that threatened to come up, then looked up at Victoria.

“We will practice in a room alone, just you and me. And _you_ will have to explain to father why the hell I was onstage when all is over.”

She squealed in delight and happiness, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing tightly. “Oh, thank you, Misto! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Don't you worry about a thing, I'll take everything! I swear, you won't regret this." 

_‘I already am.'_

She then released him, grabbed his arm and pulled him out to the stage where everyone else was still waiting, with Skimbleshanks and Alonzo now back and talking with Munkustrap.

Victoria beamed over at Munkustrap, still holding onto her brother's arm. “He'll do it!”

Munkustrap perked up and turned to Mistoffelees with a happy smile. “Really? You will?” 

Mistoffelees swallowed again and nodded, trying to smile a little. “Yeah, I guess I'm in."

Everyone cheered and came up them, patting him on the shoulder on the back, thanking him and saying how grateful they were for his help.

Skimbleshanks, who probably had been talking to Munkustrap about it and was probably just happy to not have to cut out a whole act, welcomed him right and said he'd also talk with the other teachers about this so one would ask any questions about him being there. 

Victoria and another small tabby queen pulled him into the dressing room so they could find shoes and a costume that might fit, while Tumblebrutus, Pouncival and Mungojerrie were all talking about what a great mate he was and and he'd do great.

But Mistoffelees was barely hearing it, as he was busy trying desperately not to throw up, faint or make a lightbulb explode.

_‘Everlasting Cat, what have I gotten myself into?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, done! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for part 3, hopefully the last part before moving into the good stuff!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mistoffelees and Victoria dance in the Showcase and Mistoffelees is given an offer he can’t refuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, this is finished! This was really tough to write, but it’s done. Now I can move on to new stuff(ish). 
> 
> I hope you’ll like it!

* * *

_‘I must be out of my damn mind.'_

That thought had been running through Mistoffelees’ head every other second for the last hour and kept coming back to the same exact thought, because nothing else could explain why he was in this situation to begin with.

He had found himself wearing a pure black, sparkly outfit and a pair of borrowed shoes and was now waiting backstage along with everyone else, questioning every decision that had lead him to this point. 

It was a pure miracle that he hadn't actually fainted by this point. Or had a panic attack. Or thrown up. Or something equally embarrassing or mortifying.

The showcase started around 6 PM and the everything went about as smoothly as expected. As promised, Mistoffelees was excused from the opening number or any of the other group numbers, which was a huge relief.

But, of course, his and Victoria's dance would be the the very last number in the show, which was complete and totally agony and was silently begging for someone, anyone, to put him out of his misery.

The order had been changed because Munkustrap wanted to give and him and Victoria time to go over the dance together and maybe make a few changes, considering Mistoffelees was both shorter and smaller than Plato, and would not be able to perform the same kind of lifts and and moves that Plato could. So they had been given some extra time to practice and make the changes that were needed.

Well, really it was mostly Victoria who made the changes while Mistoffelees just went along with whatever she said, wanting get to get everything over with. 

“I'm thinking maybe a bit improvising.” Victoria said when they were going through the dance together. "Considering you can't perform the lifts, maybe we could do something else entirely.” 

Then her face had lit up as she had another 'brilliant’ idea. “Oh! You could perform your Conjuring Turns! That would certainly spice it up a little."

Mistoffelees had barely stopped himself from banging his head against the wall. 

Right, because _that_ would totally help his nerves.

The Conjuring Turns was a move that Mistoffelees had coined himself when he was younger. It was a very tricky move, consisting of 24 consecutive fouettés en tournant and it was one of the very few moves that Victoria had never been able to fully master or copy from him. It was entirely his own creation and he was very proud of it.

But it was _not_ something that would help him calm down or not throw up, considering how many spins there were and much focus, strength, discipline and skill went into pulling it off.

And that’s assuming he wouldn’t throw up while doing it or trip and fall on his face. Heaviside knows he was nervous enough to trip over his own feet at this point.

But during the quick practice he did pretty well, especially considering he had never done the full dance and only helped Plato with a few moves before. And he thanked the Everlasting Cat that they were allowed to dance in a room without anyone else there, which certainly helped. 

So now, less than twenty minutes before he had to go on stage, he was sitting in a chair with his arms wrapped around himself and trying to breathe normally. He could feel his powers running wild and it was all he could do to not let even the tiniest spark escape his claws. 

Victoria had been on the phone just a few minutes earlier, talking to their father and she sounded pretty calm, though still talking in her sweetest and gentle tone. The one she had always used whenever she wanted to convince him or Mistoffelees to do something for her.

Well, at least it sounded like their father wasn't freaking out over this whole ordeal. At least that was something.

But then again, he'd been wrong before.

So here he was, the second to last number before he and Victoria were to go on, and Mistoffelees was sitting in his chair, breathing deeply and fighting against the urge to throw up his lunch and the instinct to turn around and flee the building.

_'Seriously, if this was what it felt like before you went on stage, why did these guys even do it?!'_

"Stage fright?” He looked up and saw Plato stand there, leaning on a crutch and his foot bandaged and smiled softly at him. 

He'd come back soon after he'd been released from the nurse, saying that he wanted to be there and support his friends, despite not being able to perform himself.

Mistoffelees grimaced and looked down at the floor. “Yeah… I have never done this before, I’ve only ever danced with Victoria before.” He took a deep, shaky breath and then had to swallow again to keep his lunch down. “I'm not sure I can do this.”

Plato just nodded before shuffling over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I get that. I remember the first time I danced in front of a crowd. I was super nervous and didn’t know how I could possibly go through with it.” 

Then he smirked wryly. “I also threw up."

Mistoffelees shuddered and placed a paw over his mouth, hoping desperately he wouldn't vomit. Especially not in front of another cat. 

But Plato just squeezed his shoulder and patted it reassuringly. “But you know, once you go out there, the music starts and you start dancing, everything else sort of falls away. It's just you, the music and the other cats on stage."

Mistoffelees looked up at the other tom, who smiled and squeezed his shoulder even tighter, which felt strangely reassuring. 

“You'll be fine."

Mistoffelees tried to smile back, but just as he did, Victoria came running up and grabbed his arm, pulling him up from his chair.

“Come on Misto, let's go warm up over here. It's our turn in ten minutes.” 

Mistoffelees just let her drag him along, refusing to meet anyone's eyes and followed her into the room where they had been practicing. She sat him down on a bench and stroke his fur.

“So, how are you doing?” He didn't respond, just stared off into space, trying to collect himself and rein his powers back in, despite the very strong tingling and wild anxiety running around in his chest.

Mistoffelees took a shaky breath and swallowed. “I… I don’t think I can do this…” 

Victoria grabbed his paws tightly, licking his cheek. “Yes you can! I know you can. I’ve seen you dance for years, you can pull this off in your sleep.” 

Victoria took Mistoffelees’ paws and pried them from their clenched grip. The sparkles dancing over his claws made his fur stand on end and his stomach was clenched so hard it felt like it was going to burst.

“Now you listen to me, Mistoffelees. You can't think about dad right now, or what he might say or do later. You and I both know why he does what he does. It has nothing to do with you personally, you know that. He's just worried about you."

_‘No he's not, but thanks for trying, sis.'_

"But right now, all I want you think about is me. Because I'm here with you and I'll be right beside you the whole time. Don't think about the crowd, or the other students behind us, or dad. You just look at me. I'll be right there the whole time and I won't let you fall or hurt yourself. I promise.” She raised her paw to his cheek, stroking it and grabbed one of his paws with her other paw, raised it to her lips and kissed his claws. 

“You're going to be alright.” 

Anxiety was still making him want to run and hide, and the fact that their father was still close by did not make it easier, even if he was somewhere in the sea of other cats watching the show. But Victoria's big blue eyes looking at him the way they did, did make him feel a little better. 

_‘She loves you. She's never let you down and isn't about to start now, you know that.'_

So Mistoffelees, took a deep breath and nodded, trying to smile weakly.

“Okay.”

She smiled and helped him stand, just as Munkustrap knocked on the door before coming into the room. “Hey guys, you’re on in two minutes." Victoria nodded and he smiled, looking directly at Mistoffelees. “So, how are you holding up?”

Mistoffelees just shrugged weakly and tried to breathe. “I think I'm going to be sick.” He whispered and Munkustrap smiled wryly.

“Yeah, first performances usually feel like that. And hey, there are several cats that have serious pre-performance jitters despite being seniors and having performed for years. It's totally normal to be nervous.”

He came up to him, placing his paws on Mistoffelees’ shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Look, whatever happens out on that stage or how things go, I just wanted to say that we are all extremely grateful for you doing this. And you have all us behind you right now."

He smiled at him, his green eyes warm with encouragement and reassurance. And yeah, that did help make him feel a bit better. 

His nerves were still going crazy though, despite how every cat- student and teacher- encouraging him and wishing him good luck as they headed towards the stage, and Victoria's tight grip on his paw as they got out on stage. 

In his peripheral vision he could see Munkustrap, Plato and a few other students, looking over the performance. 

_‘Oh Everlasting Cat, give me strength.'_

He and Victoria got into position on the dark stage, waiting for the music to start, and he caught his sister smile encouragingly at him. 

Then the music started and the lights slowly lit up the stage. His breath hitched and body tensed, but also seemed to be entirely on autopilot. 

Despite having only danced the whole dance a few times before, the moves came naturally to him as he moved gracefully along with Victoria. 

The music was slow, graceful and their movements match it. Every movement precise and showing of their agility and strength. 

The whole room was dead silent, which made it all the easier to forget that the audience was even there at all. Mistoffelees just danced, letting the music guide his body as he slowly forgot about the rest of the world. 

The soft piano and the gentle strings then turned into a bouncy and energetic melody and that's when everything changed. 

In the best possible way.

As they both danced, flying across the stage and twirling and jumping and performing one move after another, Mistoffelees felt everything fall away around him.

He had never felt like this before. All the tension, all the worry, all the fear and anxiety just completely melted away and he was left with this… happiness? Was this how it felt to be happy? Had it been so long since he'd felt it last time?

He didn't have to think about his movements or anything, everything came to him like it was second nature. Even as he heard audience members clap or exclaim or whistle whenever he or Victoria pulled of a particularity impressive or difficult move, it barely registered as a blip on his radar. It was like they weren’t there, there was just the dance and him and Victoria. 

The music, the dance and the energy that made his blood flow. He'd never felt so… alive. 

And he loved it.

He was smiling from ear to ear as he and Victoria started to perform jêtes, both from opposite sides of the stage, before performing pirouettes around each other. And as the cue came up, he winked at his sister as he moved onto center-stage, arms wide and bracing himself.

_'Here goes.'_

Victoria was smiling wide and he could practically hear her squeal as he started to perform his Conjuring Turns. 

It was easy. No surprise really, he'd long since mastered the move, but he usually had to think very hard about his stance and his movements, just so he wouldn’t trip. But now, it was so easy! It was like breathing, it all came so naturally. He didn't even stop to think for one second how to keep his power under control, it just obeyed and moved with him, like it was a limb. 

As he reached 24 fouettés, he twirled to the side to make way for Victoria, both to take a small breather and ease his dizzy head and to make room for her own little solo, just like they had planned. He heard the audience distantly cheer at his spinning, but it almost sounded like he was under water, they sounded so distant and muffled. 

From behind the curtains, Munkustrap was grinning widely, his mouth hanging open as he saw the long string of fouettés and laughed in complete disbelief and shock. Because while he knew the little tuxedo tom could dance, he didn't think the cat was _this_ good. 

"He's incredible!” He said, looking over at Alonzo and Plato, who nodded with a huge smile, beaming out at the pair before clapping and cheering. Meanwhile Alonzo's mouth was hanging open, completely gobsmacked.

“Yeah, Tori's been holding out on us! This kitt’s a shining star in the making!” 

Tugger cheered loudly and clapped as he watched them dance.

“Yes! Whoo! Go Tori and Misto!”

Bombalurina and Demeter didn't say anything. They just smiled softly to each other before looking back towards the shy little tom who finally seemed to be coming out of his shell, finally showing some true emotion and happiness.

It was quite moving, really.

Mistoffelees was in a completely different world. On another plane of existence where his magic didn't exist and fear and anxiety couldn't reach him anymore. His magic was under control, he didn't feel it struggle to out or take control, it was just… there. 

And as the dance came to a close, the sparkles he didn't even realize were coating his fur and clothes faded away as he got into his finishing pose next to his sister, the music fading away and leaving them in silence.

Though the silence was short-lived, before the thunderous applause started, along with cheers and whistles, and it sunk in for Mistoffelees what he has just done. 

_I did it. I just danced in front of a crowd! And I didn't lose control, even for a second!’_

His heart was pounding hard and loud in his chest and his smile threatened to split his face in two and he looked over at Victoria, who looked just as happy and high on post-performance adrenaline. She grabbed his paw and they turned to the crowd, taking a bow before the curtains closed in front of them, though the applause kept thundering despite this.

As soon as they were both hidden behind the curtains, Victoria pounced on her brother, wrapping her arms around his neck, with Mistoffelees wrapping his arms around her waist, lifting her off the floor and spinning her around.

“Oh Everlasting, Misto, that was so amazing! I'm so proud of you!” Mistoffelees couldn't respond, he was still trying to grasp what had just happened and could do nothing but smile. 

He hugged Victoria tighter and pressed his face into the crook of her neck. “I can't believe I just did that, Tori! Oh Everlasting, I'm buzzing!” 

She laughed and pulled back, her paws on his shoulders and smiling just as widely. “But you did. You pulled through and did it. And you did so great!"

He smiled and moved to hug her again. “Thank you Tori. For believing in me."

But he never heard her response to that, because that was when all the other cats came running out to them and start to congratulate and cheer them on. 

Several of the younger queens flew on Victoria, hugging her and squealing, but a lot of the older cats were on Mistoffelees and started praising him, giving him pats on the back and paws on his shoulder, and Mistoffelees were too high on adrenaline too even register it properly. 

“Everlasting, kitten, that was insane!” 

“You were amazing out there! Dude, I wish I could dance like you did!”

“You were incredible!”

Mistoffelees couldn't really answer, he just laughed it off and kept smiling as they showered him with praise. It was a new, strange feeling to have this much attention on him, let alone entirely positive attention. 

But the even stranger feeling was that he found himself really liking it. 

Munkustrap came up, looking equal parts floored and partly something weirdly close to pride. He shook his head with a baffled smile, arms folded over his chest, looking over to Victoria.

"So, Tori, were you ever going to tell us about this little gem you’ve been hiding from us?” 

Victoria, who had finished squealing and hugging with her friends, smiled innocently at him and shrugged. “What? I said he was good.”

Alonzo scoffed and shook his head, almost offendedly. “Yeah, but you didn’t say he was _that_ good! The kitt's a natural!”

Mistoffelees hid his face, feeling a blush covering his cheeks and tried to hide behind his paws, but Victoria didn't allow him, grabbing both his paws and pulled them from his face. 

Skimbleshanks came rushing up, buzzing with excitement and practically had to hold himself back from hugging Mistoffelees right on the spot.

“That was spectacular! Where have you been hiding all this time and why are you _not_ in my class, laddie?” 

Plato, who had come hobbling up to him a bit slowly due to his crutches, nodded and smiled widely. 

“Yeah, are you sure you've never done this before? Because that out there was fantastic!"

Mistoffelees couldn’t find anything good to say to all of this praise, he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders innocently at him. "Thank you.”

And Heaviside, all of this felt so… amazing. It was strange, Mistoffelees thought, that he couldn't stop smiling. All of the praise and the cats smiling and hugging or patting him on the shoulder, it all felt so much better than it had any right to feel. 

But before he could say anything, a big cat came up to them, gently pushing some of the students aside and made his way up to Mistoffelees and Victoria. 

“Excuse me, pardon me,” The others very quickly moved out of the way, smiling at the newcomer. He was a big cat, both taller and broader than anyone else in the room, had brown, shaggy fur with only a few strands of grey in there. And he was smiling so widely that Mistoffelees found himself wondering if he had swallowed the sun just now. 

And that wide, warm smile was now directed at him. 

“Who are you, child?” His voice was also warm and comforting, making any worry or fear that Mistoffelees might have felt at being caught melt away.

He had to take a deep breath before being able to answer properly. “I- My name is Mistoffelees Jones.” His voice was shaky and breathless, though he was still unable to stop smiling. “Who are you?”

Munkustrap placed a hand on the big cat's shoulder, smiling and nuzzling his face against his shoulder. “This is Old Deuteronomy. He's our principal."

Old Deuteronomy turned to Munkustrap to return the nuzzle quickly before turning his full attention back to Mistoffelees. “You don't go to this school, do you, son?”

His tone was still warm, not the least bit accusatory or hostile, which certainly helped keeping Mistoffelees from starting to worry. He just sighed, shook his head and gestured to Plato.

“Uh, no, I was just- he hurt himself and I-“ But Old Deuteronomy gently cut him off with a light wave of his paws and cleared his throat, still smiling so widely and warmly at the young cat.

“Would you want to?"

...What?

Stunned and shocked, Mistoffelees found himself unable to answer, staring up at Old Deuteronomy with wide eyes and mouth hanging open. 

He blinked a couple of times, trying to wrap his brain around the question before licking his lips. “... Me? Go here?” He nodded, still smiling widely. 

“Yes.” 

But he couldn’t possibly be serious. This school was for only the best of the best, the ones who would go on to become huge names in the entertainment business in the future. Rock stars, Hollywood actors, dancer at the Royal Ballet Academy, etc. He couldn't possibly be thinking that Mistoffelees was good enough for this school.

He glanced over at Victoria, who was smiling widely and nodded encouragingly. And he also had a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he started to hope, even as his brain was trying to catch up with what was going on.

“I don't know…” He looked around at the others students, who were also grinning encouragingly at him. “Should I?”

“Absolutely!” Munkustrap exclaimed, which was followed by his friends agreeing, and Victoria jumped up and down as she nodded, though what she said was lost in the muddle of several cats speaking at once. 

And though he felt extremely flattered by all of their compliments, Mistoffelees was still apprehensive and raised his paws to silence them. 

“B-but everyone who goes here are like _crazy_ talented!”

“Yeah, so are you, kit!” Alonzo cried, placing his paw on his shoulder and shook him encouragingly. 

Plato nodded, smiling softly but still very encouragingly. “Yeah, Old Deuteronomy wouldn't be asking if he didn't think you belonged here.”

Old Deuteronomy nodded, still smiling his warm smile and placed a big paw on his shoulder, prompting Alonzo to pull his paw back.

“Mistoffelees, what I saw out on that stage,” He gestured towards stage, his paw grazing against the curtains. “That was true talent and skill beyond most ‘average’ dancers and I truly think you belong at this school.”

And Heaviside above if Mistoffelees didn't feel reassured and warm inside, just from that smile alone. He had a very fatherly aura about him and he found himself, against his better judgement, wanting to try out this school, if only to get this warm and nice feeling to stay just a little bit longer.

Unfortunately, it didn't last very long.

“Mistoffelees!” 

And just like that, the happy feeling was gone and he immediately turned ice cold with dread. He turned around so fast he accidentally smacked Victoria in the face with his tail, turning towards the edge of the curtains as his large father came storming in, looking around for him. 

_‘Oh Sweet Everlasting Cat, have mercy on my soul…’_

Skimbleshanks came up him and tried to block his way. “Excuse me Mr. Jones, but audience members aren't allowed back here without permission from faculty or without invitation from the students.”

But Bustopher Jones just pushed him aside, looking around the stage for his kids, completely ignoring everyone else in the room. ”Mistoffelees, what are you doing back here?”

Mistoffelees swallowed hard and audibly and looked for Victoria, feeling anxiety coming back in full swing and didn't know what to do. 

"Dad!” Victoria ran up to him, looking very worried. But for possibly the first time ever, he didn't have eyes for her, he only looked directly at Mistoffelees.

Old Deuteronomy however didn't even seemed fazed by Bustopher barging in like that, just placed one arm around Mistoffelees- as if sensing his anxiety- and smiled over at the fat cat.

“Bustopher, my old friend, how wonderful it is to see you! How come you haven't told me that your son is _this_ talented? I know you said he danced just as well as his sister, but I had no idea he was this fantastic.” He took a moment to smile at Mistoffelees before turning back to Bustopher. “You must be very proud that both your children are this talented.”

But Bustopher didn't smile back, just kept a very stern and blank look on his face, arms folded over his broad chest and looking straight at Mistoffelees.

“Proud doesn't even begin to cover it.” His tone was very neutral, just like his face, but Mistoffelees easily picked up on the underlying anger and dislike, and his ears immediately drooped and he stuck his tail between his legs, only barely keeping from bowing his head in shame. He knew his father wouldn't like this situation, but he didn't think he would actually start showing it until after they were home. 

Not while they were in front of several other cats who could see and hear it all. 

He took a deep breath and turned to Old Deuteronomy, straightened his back and slipped into his role of the polite and reserved son, clutching his paws behind his back. 

Though it was a lot harder than it usually was, for very different reasons.

“Thank you for your offer Old Deuteronomy, but I will have to-" But Old Deuteronomy just held up one paw, cutting him off and just smiled down at him before looking over at Bustopher.

“Why don't we discuss this in private?” He turned to Victoria, who was eyeing her father and brother very warily, as if waiting for a bomb to go off. “Victoria, you don't mind if I borrow your brother and father for a moment, do you?"

Victoria looked very reluctant, her eyes darting back and forth between them before slowly and reluctantly nodding with a stiff smile. “Uh, no, go ahead, sir."

Though she eyed them warily as he lead Mistoffelees away from the other cats, with Bustopher trailing behind them. Though both of them seemed equally as reluctant to have this talk, Mistoffelees looking over his shoulder at her with a worried frown on her face.

* * *

Old Deuteronomy lead them into his office, a big room with a desk, a sofa and an armchair and a lot of photos on the wall, as well as plants, decorative figurines and other personal items strewn across the room. 

Bustopher and Mistoffelees sat down on the sofa, while Old Deuteronomy took a seat in the armchair. He was still smiling at Mistoffelees, though he looked a lot more wistful by this point, his fingers intertwined and his chin resting on them.

He was silent for a long while before he started to talk, very softly and gently. As if talking to a scared animal.

“It has been many years since I last met a Magical Cat, Mistoffelees. I have to admit, I didn't think I'd ever another one at this school. It is quite a pleasant surprise.”

Mistoffelees immediately became ice cold and his stomach dropped into his feet. How did he know? Had he slipped up while on stage after all? Had he lost control? 

Bustopher looked over at his son, trying to read his body language and see what was going on in his mind at the moment. His body was stiff, obviously worried and anxious, but also doing a very good job hiding it. 

Perhaps a little _too_ good. One could certainly be forgiven for thinking he hadn't understood or heard what Old Deuteronomy had said. But he knew his son better than that. After all, he was the one who taught him how to behave when asked these things.

His son cleared his throat, took a breath and then tilted his head slightly the side. “I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you mean.” Though his voice was very calm and collected, he was clutching his paws tightly in his lap. 

But Old Deuteronomy just smiled warmly, reaching out his paws and took Mistoffelees' paws, clutching them tightly and reassuringly. “You don’t have to look so worried, child. I know a Magical Cat when I see one.” He leaned in closer, his smile widening and clutching Mistoffelees’ paws even tighter. “I have a son who is a Magical Cat, you know."

And it was there where Mistoffelees forgot the act that he had to play, and just stared at Old Deuteronomy in awe. “You do?”

He nodded before leaning back in his seat, still holding onto Mistoffelees’ paws and gently prying his claws and fingers apart, running his fingers over the soft, thin fur and massaging his fingers to help him relax. 

“Indeed. Although Bustopher and I are also old friends, so I have heard about you before. He never said you were a Magical Cat, though I've had my suspicions. But now, after meeting you,” He looked up from his paws and smiled over at him. “I can see it in your eyes. And your aura, you emit this certain energy, this power that I’ve only ever felt from my son.”

Then the smile faded into a frown and he suddenly looked very sad. “That is... before he lost control.”

Mistoffelees’ eyes widened and he looked over at his father, who looked equally sad and was looking down at the floor.

“Macavity?”

Old Deuteronomy nodded somberly. "Mm, yes. Macavity was always driven, always pushing himself and always driving to learn and do as much as he could with his magic. But it wasn't until he reached about your age that…” He trailed off and shook his head, his smile returning to his face, though not quite as big. 

“Well, we don't need to go into that.” He gently released Mistoffelees' paws and- to his amazement- the tingling and tension in his paws were completely gone. He gawked down at his paws, gingerly moving and flexing his fingers and revelling in the feeling of no tingling in them. 

"How'd… what'd you do?” Old Deuteronomy smiled and got up from his seat, walking over to his desk and rummaged through one of his drawers. 

“In my experience, copious amounts of stress and fear will make your power that much harder to control, which will affect you physically as well. Even if it's only through slight tingling or the occasional sparkles.”

He then came back to his seat with a red massage ball in one one paw that he handed over to Mistoffelees. “Here. Whenever you feel stressed or anxious, roll this over your paws. It will help, I guarantee it.”

Mistoffelees eyed the spiky ball skeptically, but started to roll it over his paw pads and fingers experimentally and found that it felt very good if nothing else, his ears folding against his head with pleasure.

Bustopher looked at his son, a very smile tugging at his lips as he saw him relax, his shoulders slumping and his back slumping back against the couch. 

“That is all fine and good, old friend, but if you would be so kind as to tell me why you have brought us back here, I would be most grateful."

Old Deuteronomy nodded and looked over at Mistoffelees, who blinked and sat up back straight again, though still clutching the ball in his paws.

“Bustopher, I was very, very impressed by your son's dancing tonight. I'm aware that he was only trying to help out his sister by doing this, as Skimbleshanks informed me, but I believe he has an incredible gift, just as his sister does.” He paused and smiled very widely at Mistoffelees, who found himself smiling back, albeit a little stiffly and awkwardly.

He wasn’t really used to getting this many compliments from cats other than his sister.

He then kept going. “So, I am offering Mistoffelees a place in this school. I would like very much to help your son hone and perfect this gift and become something beautiful." 

Bustopher inhaled harshly. He'd been afraid of this. 

When Victoria had called and told him about how Mistoffelees had agreed to jump in for one of her classmates after he had gotten injured, it had taken all of his self control to not run backstage and drag his child away from there.

Because what if he lost control? What if he had accidentally revealed his magic and everybody in the audience would go after him?

But once both of them had gotten out on the stage and had started dancing, he'd been blown away, though for more reasons than their obvious talent.

He had always known they were both amazing dancers, Bast, Victoria had always been absolutely breathtaking on stage. And Mistoffelees had also been incredible, but he'd also never seen Mistoffelees so at ease. So happy. 

It had just about moved him to tears. His little boy was finally peeking out from his shell, showing something close to that little kitten he had once known. 

Still, he had also lowered his guard. His powers were still there and- though no one else seemed to notice it- his coat and clothes had sparkling brightly and Bustopher knew that it hadn't been just his costume or any makeup. 

His powers might not have run amok on stage, but he had also been doing it without thinking about it. And he didn't want to think of what could happen if he did lose control, especially here, in an environment that was built around energy and vibrancy and not as much structure that his school was known for.

Of course he wanted Mistoffelees to be happy. It was all he'd ever wanted for both his kids, but he also wanted him to be safe.

Nothing mattered more than that.

So he cleared his throat, knitting his fingers together and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Deuteronomy, while I truly appreciate your offer, you will have to excuse my worry. While I will be the first to admit that my son deserves the best education, and I have no doubt that you will give him your very best, Mistoffelees has very special needs and I just don't want him to end up in a bad situation. You of all cats understand, right?"

Mistoffelees sighed and looked away, biting his lip hard so he wouldn't show any emotion. He'd heard this before. Teachers and adults had told him a few times how gifted Mistoffelees was and were offering special opportunities or a spot on teams for academic competitions for his school or whatever, but Bustopher kept saying he wasn't interested, since it might not be in Mistoffelees’ best interests. 

Though Mistoffelees knew that it just a safety precaution. He couldn't accidentally reveal his powers to anyone, if he was separate from all the other cats. 

Just another cat in the sea of cats.

But Old Deuteronomy just nodded slightly at Bustopher before looking over at Mistoffelees, as if his father's words hadn't registered with him.

“What do you think Mistoffelees?” Which made Mistoffelees jump and looked back at the older cat.

Was he asking what _he_ thought? Huh, that was a first.

His eyes darted back and forth between both the adult cats, trying to figure out what his safest move here was. 

He could simply say he agreed with his father and say he wasn't interested, but he got the very distinct feeling that Old Deuteronomy would know if he wasn’t being honest. Also, he realized, he would be blatantly lying to his face. 

Because, as strange and somewhat intimidating as this place was, he liked it here. He liked the other cats, the energy and the sense of camaraderie they shared, and he found himself wanting to be apart of it. He'd been asking himself for years if it was greedy to just want _something_ to be apart of, something that connected him to the world around him, and here it was being offered on a silver platter for him. 

They were literally asking for him to join in. _They_ wanted _him_ to go here with them.

That felt so, so very good to actually be wanted by someone.

Still, his powers...

Old Deuteronomy must've noticed how he was tightly gripping the ball in his paws and smiled reassuringly. "Perhaps I wasn't being clear enough. I would like to help you with your magic as well."

Mistoffelees’ head snapped up and he stared at Old Deuteronomy, his eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of his skull and mouth hanging open.

"...you can do that?”

Old Deuteronomy smiled wider, nodding. “Like I said, my son is a Magical Cat and I helped guide and teach him how to use his powers ever since he was a kitten. And in my youth, I met a few other Magical Cats who have shared their knowledge with me. And though I don't have any powers of my own, I believe I know enough to help you grow comfortable enough to live with your magic and not constantly struggle to hide it."

He leaned forward, suddenly looking very serious. “Listen to me, Mistoffelees: your magic power will only grow stronger with time. And trying so hard to hide it will only grow more and more difficult as the power grows. And I really wish to help you learn to control your power, not just conceal it. Whether you wish it remain a secret regardless is entirely up to you, but I wish to teach you control.”

He reached forward, grasping one of Mistoffelees’ paws again, squeezing tightly. “The choice is yours, Mistoffelees. But I truly believe that you have the talent, skill and opportunity to become something truly amazing, and I'd very much like to help you with that. And I know that Skimbleshanks and every other dance teacher at this school would love to have you in their class. You’d be more than welcome here with us if you want to."

This couldn't be real. It was too good to be true!

He was being offered, not only a place in this new and exciting place, but also help with his magic! It was way beyond anything he could have ever hoped for. 

But still, there was an underlying fear lingering in his stomach. Because if he did choose to go here, he'd leave any sense of normalcy and familiarity behind. His normal school, normal classmates and normal studies, all for a school that was undeniably not normal. 

As invisible and unseen as he felt in his school, he had grown a bit fond of it over the few months he had spent there and there were several teachers that were nice to him and treated him like more than a wallflower.

And again, Old Deuteronomy must have seen his hesitance and squeezed his paw a little tighter. “Perhaps a trial period would be good? How about you join Victoria in her classes for a couple of days next week, just to get a good feeling of this school and how we do things, and then decide where you wanna go from there? That way there's no pressure and you can just observe and take in everything, while being close to your sister at all times in case anything happens. What do you say?"

_‘Everlasting, this guy doesn't quit, does he? He must really want me here.’_

Mistoffelees took in his words, feeling more and more like a fish at the end of a fishing rod, slowly but surely being reeled in. 

It all sounded so very tempting and lovely. Also, with it being a trial period made him feel at ease. There were no demands and no pressure to make a big decision on the fly.

Also, to be given the opportunity to learn to use and control his magic? It was more than he could ever have ever hoped. 

Victoria had been on his case for years that he needed to learn to take a chance every once in a while. That he couldn't play it safe for the rest of his life, and that he'd miss out on life if he insisted on staying hidden in the shadows for his whole life.

Well, here was a good a chance as he'd ever get, so why not?

And so he heard himself say, “Okay,” while smiling at Old Deuteronomy, who returned his smile very happily.

“Splendid. Why don't you and Victoria come here around 8AM Monday morning and we'll iron out the details and show you around the school then?” He scribbled it down on a piece of paper, handed it to him and smiled. 

Mistoffelees nodded and stood up from the couch, having completely forgotten about his father who was now staring at his son in complete astonishment.

He hadn't seen this side of his son in close to eight years.

“Thank you, Old Deuteronomy! Thank you _so_ much for the chance.” Old Deuteronomy chuckled and nodded. 

“Think nothing of it, child. Now, why don't you go and join your sister and her friends. I'd like to have a small chat with your father in private as well."

Mistoffelees nodded and thanked him again before turning on his heel and dashing out of the room, closing the door behind him. He leaned back against the door, breathing heavily and looked down at the paper in his hand. 

_‘Monday morning, 8 AM. Meet me in my office with your sister.’_

Well, no turning back now. 

But he found himself smiling widely, despite the low-key anxiety that was still there. He was excited, if nothing else because he might be able to learn more about his magic. And hey, he would spend the days with Victoria so he wouldn't be alone in this place. 

He hurried back to the backstage area, where Victoria was still waiting and was talking with her friends. But she quickly hurried over when she saw him, looking both eager and worried at the same time.

“Well? What happened?” He took a deep breath, bracing himself for Hurricane Victoria to hit him. 

“Well, I guess I'll be joining you here on Monday.” She gasped, paws covering her mouth and started jittering and bouncing up and down.

“Really? You will?” He nodded. 

_‘3, 2, 1'_

She pounced on him again, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, practically cutting off his air supply and started talking a mile a minute.

“Oh Everlasting, Misto, you're gonna _love_ it here! I swear, you will love it, this is the _best_ school _ever_! Everyone is super nice here, well maybe not everyone, there's Amaryl and her friends, but whatever, no one likes her anyway, but still, almost everyone! And the teachers are great, you'll love Skimbleshanks and Gus and Jelly and everyone!”

He only really caught about 10% of what she was saying, she was talking that fast and barely stopped to breathe, but was still smiling even as he struggled to breathe through her very tight hug.

When she finally released him enough to be able to breathe, she dragged him over to her friends to share the news. Her friends, Etcetera and her sister Electra and a small queen he was fairly sure was named Jemima, were quick to hug him and welcome him to their school, guaranteeing he would love it.

He wasn't quite sure how this would turn out. It was a big leap into the unknown with no guarantee of a safety net or any solid ground under him.

But for once, he thought, maybe it would be okay.

* * *

Bustopher looked after his son as he left the room, finding himself staring at the closed door for few long seconds before turning back to Old Deuteronomy, who was smiling fondly at the door.

“He's quite a special tom, isn't he?”

Bustopher huffed a small laugh and nodded solemnly. “I’ve done the best I could with him. Both of them.” 

Old Deuteronomy nodded, still smiling, though a tad more sympathetically. "And I do not doubt that you haven't done a good job, my friend. I truly believe this will be a good place for him."

Shaking his head, Bustopher stood up and started to pace over the floor, not sure with to do with his nervous energy. “You don't know that! Everlasting, Deuteronomy, what if he loses control? What if he can't handle his powers? Heaviside knows it was too much for Macavity, what if something similar happens to Mistoffelees?"

Old Deuteronomy suppressed his pained grimace at the mention of his oldest son. He knew Macavity had made mistakes and had lost control and himself to his magic powers and it was a pain he struggled with every day. 

But he'd like to think he had learned from any and all mistakes he had made with his son and that he would do better this time.

So he allowed Bustopher to voice his worry without saying anything until he finished and then spoke calmly.

“I know you worry, Bustopher. I was very worried about Macavity, even before he started to lose control. But the best thing to do is not to ignore the fact that he is special. His powers are always going to be a part of him and to ask him to keep them hidden will only hurt him in the long run, especially as he grows older and his powers grow stronger. I promise you that I will do my utmost to help and guide him to use his powers wisely."

Sighing heavily and rubbing his paws over his face, Bustopher turned to look back at his friend. “And I have no worries that you won't. But-“ He cut himself off, his ears folded back and his face scrunched up in worry and emotional pain, fighting back against the tears.

"But he's my little boy, Deuteronomy. I can’t let anything to happen to him and if his magic might cause him any trouble or pain… if something, _anything_ at all were to happen to him, I would never be able to forgive myself.” 

He knew that his friend wasn't trying to make him feel bad, but Old Deuteronomy still felt his heart ache as he listened to his friend, because he was still struggling with the fact that his son had turned out the way he did and battled with guilt over the things he did and could have done differently. 

However, what was done was done, and if the last six years had taught him anything it was that the only thing you can truly do is learn from your mistakes and try to do better, no matter how painful your past was or how hard it was. 

He had done the best he could to help Munkustrap and Tugger through their own pain, both due to what happened with Macavity and with their mother, and how everything had impacted their relationship as brothers. And though they were doing much better off now, they were still hurting and probably always would. 

There were some hurts and wounds that even a father can’t mend. No matter how much he may want to.

And now that he was presented with another Magical Cat with both amazing power and incredible talent and skills as a dancer, he wanted to make sure this cat got the help, guidance and support that he hadn’t been able to give his own son. 

And though he wouldn't say this now, Mistoffelees really struck him as a child starved for any kind of positive attention. His father hadn't even complimented his dancing at any point and once asked if he wanted to join this school seemed to lean very hard on agreeing with his father, just to avoid rocking the boat and not cause any trouble. Not to mention he was clinging so tightly onto image of an emotionless wall, fighting so hard to show nothing and be nothing but polite and keeping his face entirely blank.

And he'd be lying if his own fatherly instincts didn't want to help him with any and all issues he had and strengthen his confidence and self image, if only to help this child who seemed completely lost and was only trying to please his father and seemed to get very little for it.

_‘Oh, Bustopher, what have you told this poor boy?’_

But he didn't say any of that. It wasn't his place and he didn't have all the answers yet. He could be completely off mark for all he knew. 

So instead he just looked at his friend with as much sympathy and care as he could, waiting for him to sit back down again.

“And I understand your worry, Bustopher. Believe me, I have been exactly where you are right now. But you can't protect him forever. There will come a time when he will make his way out into the world on his own and make a life for himself. And the best thing you can truly do for him is allow him to test his wings and learn to fly, not constantly keep him so close he can barely breathe, let alone fly."

He sighed and placed a gentle paw on Bustopher's shoulder. “My friend, do you truly love your son? Do you wish to give him everything and want to see him succeed?” 

Bustopher looked up from the floor, a few tears in his eyes and nodded. “You know I do.”

“Then allow him to try to walk on his own. To find a path that's his own and where he can find all the success and happiness that he deserves. Allow me to help him find his way. And I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to keep him safe from any danger or scrutiny.”

Bustopher was silent for a long minute, seemingly in deep thought before sighing heavily and looked up at Old Deuteronomy. 

“Just… look after my boy for me, Deuteronomy. That is all I ask, that he will be safe here. And that is conversation stays between us. No one else needs to know."

Old Deuteronomy nodded with a gentle smile, squeezing his shoulder tightly. 

“Of course my friend. Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! I hope you liked and please comment, bookmark and leave kudos. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which it’s Mistoffelees’ first day at Jellicle Arts and... it doesn’t go as well as he’d hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, this is finished! This took way too long, but it’s finally done. 
> 
> So I aged down Gus a little bit, because I had to use him as a teacher, he’s Gus The Theatre Cat! Also, I’d like to introduce Amaryl, my first OC and if you like her even one bit then I’m doing something wrong, because I want her to be utterly detestable!
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

Monday came fast and Mistoffelees was extremely nervous.

First day in an entirely new school, full of new cats and new teachers and new subjects. 

Not to mention the fact that he was going against his father's wishes by doing this in the first place.

So yeah, extremely nervous.

Victoria was buzzing with more than twice the usual energy she had, talking non-stop about how great it was that he was going to spend the day at her school, how he was going to love it and everyone would be super nice to him, barely stopping to breathe or eat her breakfast.

In the meantime, Mistoffelees could barely make it through his scrambled eggs, his stomach having tied itself into a tight knot and threatening to rebel against him and his food.

Bustopher wasn't speaking at all, focused entirely on his big stack of pancakes and hadn't even looked up to greet his son or daughter as they came sauntering into the dining room. 

Mistoffelees knew he disapproved of this and would probably be very happy if Mistoffelees said that he had changed his mind and wanted to go this old school instead.

Don't take the chance. Stay safe and invisible in your old life.

But despite how nervous he was, there was a part of Mistoffelees that was looking forward to this day. He had already met a lot of the cats and had felt very good around them, despite their chaotic energy and the disorder surrounding them and the school. 

Besides, he would be with Victoria all day, so it wasn't like too much could go wrong, right?

Victoria looked down at her watch before getting up, grabbing her plate. “We'd better get going, Misto. It's a thirty minute walk, you'd better go get dressed."

He nodded silently, grabbing his own plate and placed in the sink before quickly running up to his room. 

Mistoffelees’ wardrobe consisted almost entirely of black and white, with the occasional grey or dark blue, but little else. Most of his clothing was a lot of white button downs, dress shirts and t-shirts and black jeans, coats, jackets and sweaters with very little variety. In fact, most of it looked more or less the same. 

But it wasn't like he'd ever wanted or needed to stand out, so shopping for new and various clothing had never been a priority. 

He did have a small collection of bow ties though, and made a habit of wearing one every day he went to school. It was one of the few fashion choices he had made on his own and he very much liked his bow ties, despite how Victoria told him they made him look stiff and boring.

And he wanted to make himself look presentable for his first day, so he picked up a nice white dress shirt, a black coat and a pair of black jeans and one of his nicest bow ties, hoping for the best.

He had barely buttoned the last button on his shirt before Victoria knocked on his door and came into his room, dressed in a light yellow dress and ballerina shoes, the fur on her head fluffed and curled with hairspray. 

“Hey, are you ready to go?” Mistoffelees nodded, grabbing his shoulder bag, with his dance clothes packed, (because you never know) and slung it over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, I'm ready.” 

Victoria eyed him up and down with a critical eye, judging him silently. “You're really gonna wear that?"

He frowned, looking down at himself and then back up at his sister. “Yeah, why? What's wrong with my clothes?"

She shook her head. “Nothing. It's just-“ She walked up to him and fingered on his shirt. “You look a little stiff, that's all. Here, let me just…” She gently undid the top button, as well as the one under it and adjusted his bow tie, loosening it a little and tugged a little on the collar of his shirt and coat. 

“This isn't your usual school, Misto. We're not usually wearing these prim and proper clothes on a regular day.” Mistoffelees shrugged and tugged on his shirt.

“Perhaps not, but I want to at least look a little proper and serious on my first day. Besides, it's not like looking proper is ever a bad thing.”

Victoria rolled her eyes, sighing dramatically. “Remind me to take you shopping one of these days. You seriously need some variations in your wardrobe, bro. A little color won't hurt you, you know.” She raised a paw to his head and ran her fingers through his neatly groomed and shiny fur, ruffling and teasing it a little.

“And you need to loosen up a little. We're not an uptight private school, we're artists. We like to have fun." Then she turned around, grabbing her bag and slung it over her shoulder as she walked out. “Now come on, we need to go!”

Mistoffelees glowered after his sister as she left, then turned to the mirror and fixed his fur, licking his paw and running it over his head until it looked smooth and neat again before following his sister to the door.

But before he got there, his father stepped out in front of him with a very serious look on his face. 

“Mistoffelees."

Mistoffelees stopped, looking up at his father and immediately straightened his back, pulled his shoulders back and placed his paws behind his back.

It was basically second nature after all these years. 

“Father.”

Bustopher looked down at his son, mirroring his posture and took a breath. “So, are you looking forward to your first day?”

_'Well, I'm nervous as hell, but sure, I guess.'_

He nodded with the tiniest hint of a smile on his face.

“I am. I'm sure it will be a good day.” Bustopher nodded with a plastic and somewhat forced smile, his lips pressed together. He clearly wasn't happy with this at all, Mistoffelees understood that very, very well.

He took a deep breath, taking a step closer to his son, having to hold himself back from placing a paw on his shoulder. 

“Good. But remember, even if Old Deuteronomy knows about your... gift,” He was trying to make it sound better, but Mistoffelees just bit his lip and looked down at the floor.

_'Your curse he means to say.’_

“That doesn't mean that anyone else has to know. No one else needs to know about it.”

Mistoffelees raised his chin, nodding seriously and kept his face blank. “I know father. I won't. It will remain a secret."

His father nodded, taking a step even closer and his growing more and more serious and even bit intimidating. 

At least to Mistoffelees, who fought against the urge to hide his tail between his legs or fold his ears back.

“Just… do _not_ make a spectacle of yourself today Mistoffelees. Your dancing is amazing, I know it is, but one does not need to make oneself out to be clown in order to show it."

Mistoffelees nodded, face still blank, but clenched his paws so tightly that his claws dug into his palms, almost drawing blood.

“I won't father.” 

_‘Yeah, I'll just go to a school for artists and_ _not_ _try to make myself out as an artist myself. All to make sure I don't embarrass_ _you_ _.'_

Bustopher nodded, stepped away and gestured towards the hallway. “Good. Now, I believe you need to hurry. You mustn't be late for your first day.

Mistoffelees nodded, gripping at his shoulder bag before hurrying off to join Victoria in the hallway, who was stand with her paw on the door handle and bouncing in place.

“Come on, let's go! What's taking so long?” Mistoffelees rolled his eyes, pulling on his converse while standing, swaying back and forth as he tied them.

“Father just wanted to talk to me before we left, that's all.” 

Victoria immediately grimaced, glaring up the stairs where their father was somewhere. 

Why did he constantly have to ruin it whenever Mistoffelees wanted to try and branch out or do something that made him the tiniest bit happy?

She growled under her breath, even as Mistoffelees swung his bag over his shoulder again and adjusted his coat.

"Well then, let's go.” She didn't say anything, just nodded and smiled as she opened the door. She took her brother's paw, squeezing it and smiling reassuringly at him as they walked out. Mistoffelees still looked very nervous, but smiled back at Victoria, feeling a bit more at ease at her smile, knowing she would be with him the whole day.

_‘It's going to be okay.'_

* * *

The walk to the school was made up almost entirely of Victoria talking. Or really, it wasn't so much talking as her having a freaking monologue with herself. 

She went on and on about all the great perks with her school, how much freer it was and how much more fun it was than _‘a stiff, normal and boring school’_ and how everyone was super nice and welcoming.

And as much as he appreciated her trying to make him feel better, Mistoffelees had long since stopped listening to her. It was basically just the same stuff over and over again. 

At this point it sounded more like she trying to convince herself more than him.

Though he had to give it to her, Victoria was probably the best talker in all of London. He had no idea how she hadn't run out of words by now.

Aside from that, the walk was fairly uneventful. The only thing of note that happened was went he felt a jolt through his body and a tingle in his brain, a few blocks away from the school.

This had happened a few times before, it was a part of his magic. Sometimes he could feel other cats’ presence, when they were sneaking up on him or when someone else entered the room. It didn’t happen too often, so whenever it happened it meant something.

And today it happened and he sharply turned to look across the street, ears perked, eyes wide and tail twitching restlessly. 

Across the street, on the ground, stood what appeared to be a homeless beggar cat. She had to be, there was no other explanation to how she could looked the way she did. 

Her brown and grey coat was an absolute mess. She wore what once upon a time had probably been a beautiful gala dress, though the sparkles had long since faded and died, it was torn and dirty, and hidden under a big, thick coat, equally as torn and stained as her dress and was dragging behind her on the ground. Her face was smeared with old makeup that probably hadn't been removed and re-done in years and she was not wearing any shoes.

And she was also staring right back at him, looking very sad and cautious, yet seemed very curiously with him.

Who was she? Why was she staring at them? And why had she triggered his powers?

Victoria, having noticed him jolting and turning so abruptly, looked up at him and then across the street to see what he was looking at. But when she saw what he saw, her ears folded back in fear and quickly grabbed his arm and tugged him along. 

“Ignore her."

Her voice was curt and surprisingly cold, which caught Mistoffelees really by surprise, because it was very unlike his warm and social sister. 

He turned to look over his shoulder at the queen, who looked very forlorn and sad, but didn't walk after them. 

“Why? Who is she?"

“No one. She's no one.”

That was all she said, but her tone was so cold and unwilling to say anything else, so Mistoffelees figured it be better to just drop the subject.

When they arrived at the school, it was almost entirely empty. Which made sense, Mistoffelees supposed, since school didn't start in another thirty minutes, but it felt a little bit strange to be in a school before anyone else was. Like he was breaking in or just wasn't supposed to be there at all.

But he had to admit, the entrance very nice. It was a big, very spacious hallway with lockers against the walls, all very creatively decorated and all of them unique from the others. There was a small stairway that split into two directions, one left and one right that probably lead to different classrooms. 

And the walls were covered in different paintings or artworks, probably created by students throughout the years. And to clarify, they weren’t paintings hung up on the wall. They were painted directly _on_ the wall. Also, there were a lot of windows and the room was lit up the early morning sun, leaving a nice and warm air as the walked in through the doors. 

Victoria walked further into the room, spreading out her arms and spinning around on her heel to look at Mistoffelees. “See? It's just a normal school.” 

Mistoffelees looked at her, eyebrows raised and took a good long look around the room again, taking in the colorful and unique lockers, the equally colorful walls and just how bright and eye catching all of it was. 

“I think you and I both have very different definitions of the word 'normal’, sis. Because I have never seen a school like this before. Really, this a colorful place or colorful cats. Ergo, not me.” He gestured down at himself and his black and white clothes and fur.

Victoria looked at him, her smile dropping into a very tired and annoyed frown, but before she could say anything, another voice was heard from behind her.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. There's plenty of ways to be colorful and creative.” She turned around and Mistoffelees looked up and behind her to see Munkustrap come from around a corner, smiling a warm and welcoming smile as he came up them. Mistoffelees also realized this was the first time he saw him in something different than dance tights or costumes, as he was dressed in a dark blue shirt and jeans, looking proper but also fairly mundane. He almost wouldn't have recognized him if not for his silver grey fur. 

Victoria immediately brightened up. “Munk! What are you doing here?” 

Munkustrap placed a paw on her shoulder, patting it as he passed her and came up to Mistoffelees. “Old Deuteronomy asked me to join you today, to help show you around and help you get settled in.” 

He placed a paw on Mistoffelees’ shoulder, smiling sympathetically at him. “Are you nervous?” 

Mistoffelees took a deep breath, nodding slowly, trying not to tense too much under his grip. “A little.”

Munkustrap nodded, squeezing a little tighter before letting go. “Yeah, I get it. I was really nervous on my first day too. But I can guarantee you that most of the cats here are very nice and probably won't bite."

He smirked teasingly at him and Mistoffelees couldn't help but snort at his little joke, nodding with weak smile. 

Victoria and Munkustrap laughed a little too, before Munkustrap started to lead them to Old Deuteronomy's office, where he was already waiting. 

He smiled very brightly as they walked in, standing up from behind his desk and opened his arms to them. “Victoria, Mistoffelees! Lovely to see you, both.” 

He walked up to them, giving them a hug each before placing both paws on Mistoffelees’ shoulders, his smile softening a little.

“So, how are you feeling today? Happy? Excited?” And Mistoffelees felt compelled to nod and smile, if only to keep the others happy. 

“Yeah, just a little nervous.” Old Deuteronomy patted his shoulders, squeezing them and smiling.

“Well, that's understandable. Everyone feels a little unnerved on their first day doing anything.” He turned to look at Munkustrap. “That's why I asked Munkustrap to join us here today. He's been at this school for three years now and is very good at making his fellow students feel at home here."

Munkustrap beamed brightly and straightened his back proudly, preening a bit like a peacock, while Victoria nodded with a wide smile. 

Old Deuteronomy placed an arm around Mistoffelees’ shoulders, leading him to the other end of the room, making a show of looking through a pile of papers and giving Mistoffelees a piece of paper with Victoria's schedule printed on it. Though he also lowered his voice and leaned in closer to his face.

“I figured that today might be a lot to take in for you as it is, so if you'd rather us talk about your powers tomorrow or another day, that will be fine. But if you change your mind or you wanna talk about anything at all, you know where to find me. It's up to you."

And Mistoffelees couldn't help but sigh in relief. He was stressed and nervous enough as it was, so to put focus off his powers for a day, would probably be for the better. 

Also, he had packed the red massage ball in his bag to help him with the tingling and his stress, so hopefully today would go fine.

So he nodded and smiled weakly. “Okay. Thank you, Old Deuteronomy."

Old Deuteronomy just smiled and patted his shoulder before turning to Munkustrap and Victoria. “Well then, shall we get on with the tour?"

Munkustrap and Victoria lead him through the school, showing off the classrooms for singing, acting, as well as the normal classrooms for subjects like math, English and history, and the large dance studios and even a few rooms with gym and acrobatic equipment. 

“We gotta stay in shape if we wanna be able to dance and sing as well as we do.” Munkustrap explained. “Besides, a lot of the dance and circus classes need the different kinds of exercises.” 

A lot of the classrooms were very different from anything from Mistoffelees’ school. There were no benches, just simple chairs or benches for the students to sit on. In the classrooms for acting the chairs were placed in a half-circle around a small stage, and in the music classrooms they were placed in a full circle, as well as a lot of instruments and other equipment. 

Though, aside from that, all this information and trying to remember where everything was, as well as taking in all the strange and colorful decorations everywhere made Mistoffelees’ head spin. 

He seriously hoped they didn't expect him to remember everything all at once. 

When they eventually made it back to the entrance, the other students had started to come in and gather books from their lockers, talk amongst themselves and get ready for class. 

Munkustrap looked down at his watch, smiling at Victoria. “Well, I have to get to dance class. I trust you'll be fine from here.” 

She nodded, wrapping an arm around her brother's shoulders. “Yeah, I’ll take very good care of him. You can leave.” 

Munkustrap smiled, looking over at Mistoffelees and placed a paw on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “Don't worry, kitt. We’ll take very good care of you. And if anything happens or anyone says anything, just look me up.” He then waved and started to walk away, joining Alonzo and Demeter by their lockers as Demeter gathered up her books and Alonzo drank from a takeaway cup of coffee and leaned against his locker, practically half-asleep.

Mistoffelees took a deep, shaky breath before turning back to Victoria, who was smiling widely. “So, where are we off to first?”

Victoria smiled and lead him down the hallway. “Well, you're in luck. We've got acting class with Gus and the sophomores first thing today. They probably won't force you to do anything if you don't want to. Your job today is just to observe and get a good look of how this school works.”

She lead him further down the hallways and to a classroom with a small stage and about twenty plastic chairs placed in a half circle around the stage. And on the wall behind the stage was a big white-board with some notes left written on it. 

Victoria patted his shoulder and headed towards the doors. “I'm just gonna go to the bathroom real quick, I'll be back in a minute.” 

After she left the room, Mistoffelees walked further into the studio, looking around the brightly lit room and couldn't fight back the smile. While the room wasn't quite as fancy or organized as any classroom he had seen before, it was still very warm and welcoming. There were a lot of color in the room, several cute paintings and decorations on the walls and the floor was covered in a soft carpet.

He dropped his bag by his feet, walking around the room and looking over the paintings and decorations. There was a version of the painting of pollicles playing cards, only with cats instead, several colorful masks from all over the world hung on the walls and some- what looked to be- student projects that the teacher had hung up.

Seemed to be a theme with the school.

“Hey! So this is where you're hiding?” Mistoffelees jumped and turned around, spotting Tumblebrutus and Pouncival stand in the doorway, bags slung over their shoulders and smirking at him.

“Victoria said you were gonna join us today. I hope this means we'll get to see you act since we've already seen you dance.” Pouncival walked up to him, leaning on one leg and smirking teasingly at him.

Mistoffelees snorted quietly and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no. I don't think that's gonna happen today. I'm just here to observe and reflect. I don't plan on being a part of the class if I don't have to.”

Tumblebrutus came up to his brother, placing one arm around his shoulders and leaning most of his weight on him.

“Aw come on, we've all seen you dance and you're great! Gus would love see you act too, I just know it.”

He shook his head with a tolerant smile. “I don't know, maybe I will if Gus asks me to. But I'd rather not draw too much attention to myself on day 1.” 

Tumblebrutus and Pouncival groaned disappointedly, but as more and more students began to pile in to the classroom, Mistoffelees managed to sneak away before they could ask any more questions. 

Victoria came back into the room and hurried up to him, hooking one arm through his and leading him over to her friends. 

“Hey girls! My brother's going to be here for a few days to see if he wants to go here! So you'd better be nice to him and be on your best behavior today.” 

Mistoffelees immediately blushed and covered his face with one paw. He loved Victoria very much and loved her for wanting to stick by him for the day, but this was pushing it a bit.

He didn't need to be coddled like a damn kitten.

But her friends just smiled and nodded and seemed to be as used to Victoria's more unique traits as he was. Some of them he recognized from the rehearsals and the showcase, like Etcetera and Electra, and some were fairly new faces. 

He certainly hoped they wouldn't expect him to remember their names.

One of them, a short and small red-brown tabby queen with black stripes and white belly and muzzle, just smiled equally as wide as Victoria. She was dressed in a very punk-like style; a dark red and black checkered skirt, fishnet tights, a black sleeveless top and black combat boots. She also had spike choker around her neck.

But there also something very… cute, about her- for lack of a better word. She had very big brown eyes and despite her clothing she had this air of innocence about her.

“Of course we will, Tori. What do you think of us?” She then turned to look at Mistoffelees, her bright eyes sparkling under the light of the spotlights. 

“I know you've probably heard it several times by now, but I just have to say it, you were absolutely brilliant at the showcase!"

Mistoffelees felt himself blush again and smiled back at her, though probably looked stiff and awkward. “Wow, thanks…” He trailed off as he tried desperately to remember her name but came up blank. 

It started with a J, that much he remembered. 

“Um… Jaliyah?” She snorted and shook her head, though kept her bright and wide smile. 

"Close. My name is Jemima.”

He grimaced embarrassedly. "Right. Sorry.” But Jemima just shrugged it off, but before she could say anything she was interrupted. 

“So, we’ve got fresh meat today?” Victoria and Jemima, as well as their other friends groaned and rolled their eyes as they turned towards the door to the classroom.

A slick Siamese Queen was standing there with a smug smirk on her face and flanked by two other queens, a rather plump Bombay queen and a Persian queen with a pure white coat. But it was equally as clear that the Siamese queen was the one in charge here.

Her coat was platinum blonde, almost white, save for her arms, legs, face, ears and her tail which all had a nice chocolate brown color. She was dressed in a short black skirt and a pink tank top as well as a pair of black high heeled boots and had a big monstrosity of a purse hanging over her shoulder and had a big takeaway cup of coffee in her paw. 

She was very pretty, but the look on her face as well as the fact that her clothes and bag were clearly from very expensive brands made it clear she was from a wealthy family.

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes skyward and groaned internally. He had seen cats like her throughout his entire life. His high school class alone was full of cats like her, who made a big show of looking wealthy and talking and acting like they were amazing and the Everlasting Cat's gift to the world because of their parents money and influence.

Well, both Mistoffelees and Victoria had an extremely wealthy father and had long since learned that loads of money didn't make anyone good or entitled to anything, and that hard work and dedication was a big part of it.

Success was never given, it was earned.

Mistoffelees had never once entertained cats like this and had simply rolled his eyes and walked away or tuned them out, keeping his mouth shut. But it didn't look like that tactic was gonna work here, considering her attention was on him and not her peers or any other cats she wanted to impress.

Plato- who had hobbled in on crutches- growled lowly and glared over at her. “Lay off, Amaryl, it's his first day! Can't you give him another day or two before you start being a jerk?” 

She rolled her eyes, ignoring his comment and sauntered over to Mistoffelees, her tail swishing back and forth as she eyed him from head to toe.

“So, who are you supposed to be? You don't exactly look like anyone who might take the world by storm or anything.” 

Her tone was very condescending and unimpressed as she took in his clothing and fur, sneering at his simple and dull converse and worn out shoulder-bag. 

_'Okay, so it's been a while since I went shopping last. Big deal.”_

Also she spoke with a very thick American accent, probably a Californian accent or somewhere from the west coast. 

Mistoffelees barely managed to avoid to rolling his eyes again. He'd had a few American cats at his school and they were all so very obnoxious. 

In fact, the accent was so distracting that he hadn't even listened to what she actually said to him. 

But Victoria had, as she growled and clenched her paws tightly. “Not that it's any of your business Amaryl, but this is my brother Mistoffelees. He was offered to come to our school for a few days to see if he likes it here."

Amaryl just smirked condescendingly at Victoria while looking down her nose at her. “Oh yeah?” Then she turned back to Mistoffelees. “So you've got some talent? Or maybe you just really wanted to feel special and got in by sheer luck?"

Then she smirked and looked over his clothes again. “I mean, you don't exactly look like much. Given your choice or wardrobe you can't be that special or noteworthy."

Mistoffelees just looked at her with a blank expression, didn't even have to try to keep his feelings neutral. He was way too used and numb to this kind of behavior to muster any feelings over it. 

_‘Yeah, because whether or not you have any noteworthy talent or skill is totally visible by how you’re dressed.'_

She just raised her eyebrows expectantly before turning to Victoria, who was clearly fighting back to urge to snap at her. “What's with him, does he even talk at all?”

Before Victoria could snap at her that ‘he can speak perfectly fine, thank you very much!’ Mistoffelees cut her off. 

“When he wants to.” 

Amaryl turned back to him, a bit surprised at how calm and unbothered he sounded, before smirking and folding her arms over her chest.

“Oh look at that, the kitten can speak."

Mistoffelees just stared at her, one eyebrow raised and groaning very lowly under his breath.

_‘Seriously, what is the deal with everyone calling me a kitten here? I get that I'm short but I'm not that little!'_

She leaned on one leg, still looking him over with a very condescending look, her tail swishing in Etcetera’s face, who sputtered and tried to wave it off.

“Well then, what exactly are you supposed to be? A singer? An actor? A dancer? If you’re related to Victoria you must be a dancer, so why don't you show us what you've got?”

Mistoffelees just looked at her, dead in the eye, and said without moving one muscle in his face, “No."

She was clearly a bit taken aback by how firm he sounded, jerking back a little. Then she scoffed and placed both paws on her hips, sneering down at him from her high heels.

“Oh? And why not? Are you scared? Or?Or maybe you're just that talentless compared to the real stars?” 

Victoria was now growling like a tiger, her fur almost standing on end and Mistoffelees had to place his hand on her shoulder to make sure she wouldn't actually attack her. 

Mistoffelees however did as he always did, turned off his emotions and put on his most blank, cold and icy expression as he looked looked Amaryl dead in the eye.

“Because I am _not_ a circus performer. I am _not_ here to perform for your amusement. And I am definitely _not_ here to prove anything to the likes of _you_.”

Amaryl stared at him, wide eyes and mouth open. She was probably not used to being talked to this way by someone new. 

_‘Good. That will help knock her down a peg.’_

Then she seemed to remember that everyone was looking at them and puffed out her chest and smirked down at him.

“Oh kitten, you clearly don't know who I am, do you?"

Mistoffelees held himself back from groaning, but still rolled his eyes again, so hard they almost rolled right off his face.

_‘Seriously, what is it with those school and being full of annoying cats with huge egos? Is that what this school does to them?'_

He just shrugged and looked at her with the most tired and dead look he could muster. “Should I?"

She sneered at him again, placing a paw over her heart, puffing out her chest and stood as tall as she could manage. “You definitely should. I am Amaryl Diamond. My daddy is the owner of Diamond Records back home in LA, and I'm going to be his next star one day.”

_‘‘Ah yes, daddy's little angel is of course going to be the next big thing one day. Doesn't matter if she has actual talent or not, she's going to be a big star because daddy is rich and successful.’’_

Mistoffelees seriously wanted to barf. 

Still, he just shrugged again and kept his face blank and unimpressed. “Okay.” 

Amaryl blinked and looked back down at him, completely taken by surprise. “ _Okay_? Uh, maybe you didn't hear me, but my _dad_. _owns_. _Diamond Records_! It makes millions of dollars every year!”

Mistoffelees looked over at Victoria, shrugged again and pursed his lips. "And our father owns and runs almost every fancy and upscale club in the city, making millions of pounds every year. What's your point?"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh please! Like a stinking club owner is gonna help you get anywhere. It's not like he has any connections with any real names in the business."

_‘No, he's only a huge name in the business and is personal friends with several big names in the entertainment industry, from singers to dancers to everything. Clearly that’s nothing to have.'_

Mistoffelees shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, Heaviside forbid that he'd like to teach me how to work and create my own success rather than use him and his money to get my way."

The others cats around them were now giggling or ‘oohing’ behind them, which clearly aggravated Amaryl even more. She threw angry glares at the other cats around her before glaring back at Mistoffelees.

“Uh, excuse me, who do you think you’re talking to? What makes you think you can walk into _my_ school and act like this?”

_'"My school?” Is she being serious right now?'_

Mistoffelees raised his eyebrows, folding his arms over his chest. “Like what, exactly? What have I said that's so terrible?"

She bristled, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted. “You know, it's so nice to see him blow off someone who isn't me.” 

Mistoffelees and Amaryl turned to the door and saw- much to Mistoffelees’ chagrin- Tugger stand in the doorway, next to Bombalurina, resting one arm on her shoulder and smirking, while Bombalurina just rolled her eyes at him.

_‘Oh joy. Another ego to deal with.'_

But Amaryl ran straight up to him, grabbing his jacket and tugged on it while making her eyes big and wide.

“Tugger! Tuggsie, did you hear what he said to me? He's _sooo_ rude!"

Tugger grimaced in disgust at the nickname- and how she dragged out the word 'so’- and tugged his jacket out of her paws, straightened it out and looked just as annoyed with her as Mistoffelees was.

_‘Well at least we've got that in common.’_

“Yeah, I heard him. And from where I'm standing it only sounded like disinterest, nothing worse. He's done that to me for weeks, you'll survive. " Bombalurina nodded and stared at Amaryl with very obvious disgust and dislike.

"Yeah and seriously Amaryl, stop picking on the freshmen. You're 16 years old, grow up already.” She then sauntered into the classroom, taking a seat at the back, placing one leg over the other. 

Tugger smirked at his friend and followed, leaving Amaryl gaping after him as he sat down beside Bombalurina, resting one ankle over his knee and one arm over the backrest of the chair. 

Mistoffelees smirked lightly at her baffled and gobsmacked expression, before she stomped over to her friends and started to bemoan how she was being mistreated.

He just turned to Victoria, who was now looking at him like she wanted to be reprimanding but was fighting hard not to smile or laugh. “Misto… play nice.” 

He gagged quietly and rolled his eyes. “Blegh... Americats…” 

But he didn't get to hear any response from Victoria or any of her friends, because the teacher walked in. 

Gus was an old tom, his fur full of grey hairs with only a few hints of light brown left and he was walking a little bit a slightly shaky gait. He looked to be at least over seventy-five, though it was hard to be sure. He was also very thin and dressed in tattered pants and a shirt and a coat that was several sizes too big.

He clapped her paws together as he entered, catching the attention of everyone around him. “Alright everyone, let's take our seats. We have a lot to do today and there's no time to waste."

The few cats that had yet to take their seats quickly sat down and quieted down. Though Mistoffelees had yet to find an actual seat, and before he could, Gus walked up to the center of the room, seemingly not realizing that he was standing right next to Mistoffelees. 

Victoria quickly got out of her seat to drag him away and to the seat next to her, but Gus caught her before she could. “Victoria, please, sit down. Class has started.”

Victoria nodded and grimaced sheepishly. “Yes I know sir, it's just- I mean, my brother-“

Gus narrowed his eyes and turned to his left before nearly jumping out of his skin when he saw him, placing a paw over his heart as he panted.

“Oh my goodness! Please, don't sneak up on me like that. If you wish to ask me something, please raise your paw.”

Mistoffelees just blinked, looking over to Victoria and then back to the teacher. “I was just standing here… You came up to me.” 

Gus looked at him, then over to Victoria and when she nodded to confirm it, he laughed sheepishly. “Oh I'm sorry my boy, I didn't see you there.” 

Mistoffelees just sighed and closed his eyes. “No, it's alright. I'm used to it” 

_‘No one ever does.'_

Gus just looked at him for a long few seconds before chuckling awkwardly and turning towards the class, gesturing to Mistoffelees.

“Heh, well class, this here is Mistoffoles Jones, Victoria's brother. He will be joining us for a couple of days before deciding if he wants to join us here at Jellicle Arts."

Mistoffelees half-glared at him, taking a deep breath and corrected him. “Mistoffelees.”

He glanced over at him, eyebrows raised and looking a bit surprised. ”Pardon?"

Mistoffelees took a deep breath for strength. “It's pronounced Mistoffelees.”

Gus blushed and chuckled again. “Oh, I'm sorry.” He looked down at his papers, squinting his eyes as he tried to read what was written there. “Is that what it says here?” 

Mistoffelees shrugged. “I don't know, but it's my name.”

The other cats in the room were now laughing a little uncomfortably, aside from Amaryl and her friends were laughing mockingly and sneered at him.

Gus threw an angry glare at the class before turning back to Mistoffelees. “Well, my name is Asparagus and I teach acting at this school and have for almost twenty-five years. Though you may call me Gus. Asparagus is such a fuss to pronounce."

_‘Yeah, unlike Mistoffelees, right? Such an easy name to say, sir.'_

"Perhaps you'd like to share a bit about yourself with the rest of the class? You and Victoria were fantastic at the showcase, surely you must be as much an indiscernible fantastic a dancer as your sister."

Mistoffelees shook his head and shrugged. “Actually, I'm just fantastically indiscernible."

There were more snickers and sneers from Amaryl and her friends, as Gus desperately tried to save the situation from anymore awkwardness. 

“I see… Well, I'm sure you're very gifted.” 

"Gifted? The guy's positively mundane.” Amaryl laughed, her friends snickering with her and making Tugger, Bomba and several of the students glare at her.

Gus turned to look at her with such a stern and angry look that she immediately shut up and looked down. Then he turned back to Mistoffelees and Victoria, waving at them to take a seat.

“Well, welcome to Jellicle Arts Mistoffelees. Now, let's get on with class today.” Victoria grabbed his paw and quickly dragged him over to her chair and pushed him into the one next to hers. 

_‘Well, today is certainly off to a great start.’_

Gus walked up the small steps on the stage and up the whiteboard. 

“Today we're going to work with improvisation.” He turned to Mistoffelees with a nod. “Mistoffelees, I'm assuming you know what that is.” And Mistoffelees barely had time to respond before he plowed on. 

“Improvisation: acting without a script or direct guidelines. Meaning the actors need to make up lines and actions as the scene keeps playing around them."

“Like if you forget your lines!” Mungojerrie cried out from the back. 

“Or think of a better one!” Rumpleteazer called out right after. 

Gus grimaced at the interruption, but nodded. “Yes, just like that. But please raise your paw next time, it's rude to interrupt."

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer just grinned and high-fived each other. 

Gus resumed the lesson. “Well, today we're going to do some improvisation exercises. Who wants to lead the first group today?"

“I do!” Amaryl raised her paw with a small innocent smile on her face. Gus gestured at her to get up on the stage. 

“Ah, well then, Amaryl, choose your actors.” Amaryl placed her takeaway cup on the floor, then got up from her chair and walked up onto the stage, turning to her classmates.

“Uh, okay. Lily,” The Bombay queen got up, walking up to join her friend. “Rose.” The Birman queen got up. “Tugger,” Tugger got up too, looking very reluctant to do so. Then she turned to Mistoffelees with the subtle hints of an evil smirk. “And Mistoffelees."

Mistoffelees immediately tensed up, feeling the tingling in his paws immediately start. The one blessing of today so far was that the tingling in his powers had remained very low, almost nonexistent. 

Until now.

He turned to Victoria. She looked equally as suspicious as he did, but he obediently got up from his chair and walked up to the stage. 

Gus stopped him before he could though. “My boy, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. Old Deuteronomy told you that you only need to observe, not interact with the classes if you feel uncomfortable.”

Mistoffelees bit his lip. He wanted to sit down, if for no other reason than that he didn't trust Amaryl one bit. But before he could say anything, Amaryl called out from the stage.

“Oh please, mister Gus. I just want him to feel included and welcomed into this class, that's all.” She batted her eyelashes at him, making her blue eyes as big as possible. 

And to his credit, Gus did not appear to be buying it. He looked at her with the same suspicion that Mistoffelees and Victoria did, but he still turned to Mistoffelees and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Well, it's up to you, Mistoffelees. I won't make you do anything if you don't want to. But if you want to join, then feel free to.”

Mistoffelees bit his lip, took a deep breath and slowly made his way up on the stage. He knew that Amaryl had something up her sleeve, he knew she did, but if he backed out then she would eventually pull some stunt later. So it was better to just get it over with. 

Hopefully she would just try to humiliate him and that'd be the end of it all. The same way he 'humiliated’ her before.

Gus turned to the rest of the class, putting on a somewhat plastic smile- especially for someone who was teaching acting Mistoffelees noted- and clapped his paws. “So, now we need a place. Where is this scene taking place?” 

Pouncival raised his paw. "At the park!” 

Gus smiled, writing it up on the whiteboard. “Good, at the park.” Then he turned back to the class. “And what is happening?” 

“A family day!” Electra called out, her paw raised.

“Yes, that's good! A family day.” As Gus wrote that up, Amaryl came up to Mistoffelees and gently lead him to the other side of the stage. 

“Why don't you stay over here for now?” Then she sauntered over to her friends and Tugger, who looked equally as unsure and uncomfortable as Mistoffelees felt, and when Mistoffelees turned to look at him he just shrugged and shook his head, signaling that he had no idea what her plan was. 

Gus then slowly walked off the stage and stood off to the side, resting his chin on one paw and folded his other arm over his chest, resting his other elbow on said arm.

“Alright then, family day at the park! And, action.” 

Amaryl immediately walked up to Tugger, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. “Look honey, wasn't this a good idea? The weather is so nice, it'd be a crime to let the kids stay inside."

Tugger looked incredibly unhappy with her arms around him and subtly tried to push her away, while smiling widely and getting right into the scene. 

“Oh yes, darling. It sure was a great idea for a picnic in the sunlight."

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes. Sheesh, more stilted and awkward acting would be hard to find. Tugger _had_ to be a better actor than this. 

Despite not being Tugger’s biggest fan, he had seen him sing and dance and act a little during the rehearsals for the showcase and knew he was better than _this._

Wow, Amaryl really was a leech. In more ways than one.

Rose and Lily had gotten down on their knees and pretended to be playing in the grass, pushing each other back and forth and laughing and smiling. 

Then Rose looked up and pointed at Mistoffelees, looking both scared and disgusted, ears pinned back and tail twitching. “Mom, dad, look! A dirty pollicle!”

And Mistoffelees immediately pieced together what this was. Amaryl must have told Rose to say that, it sounded way too thought through, considering he had been told to stand to the side. 

So her plan was to humiliate him by forcing him to play a dog? Ugh… 

He wagged a bit with his tail and tilted his head to the side, much like a dog would. He also panted hard and let his tongue hang out of his mouth while smiling widely and dumbly, playing up a playful and confused dog, fighting through the burning humiliation.

“Woof? Don't mind me, I was just stopping for a moment to breathe. I was just out jogging, that's all.” 

Lily, who looked a little unsure at the sudden turn in scene, eyed her 'sister’ and then her ‘mother.’ “Mom, what's going on?"

Amaryl scowled and hissed at him, pawing towards him with her claws drawn at him. “Ugh, dirty pollicle, leave us immediately! You are scaring my children!"

Mistoffelees managed to hold himself back from rolling his eyes or openly groaning this time, though he cringed at her acting. 

He had to hope this queen’s singing was better than her acting.

Tugger placed a paw on her shoulder, pushing her back and looking both confused and very annoyed at her. “Darling please, he's not doing anything. He will leave soon, let's just go back to our picnic.” 

It was hard to tell whether or not Tugger was acting at this point or if he just wanted her to shut up and leave him alone.

_'Well, at least he's not so self absorbed that he's okay with letting her act like a bully.'_

Amaryl ignored him and just glared at Mistoffelees, her tail twitching irritably. “No, he will leave now! Do you have any idea how many fleas pollicles have?” She cried, turning to Tugger with a disgusted look. 

Mistoffelees blinked, almost dropping the act, for a second. “Uh, woof? What do you mean?”

Lily and Rose cried out in disgust, jerking away and crawling behind Tugger and Amaryl. 

“Ew!” 

“Gross!"

But Amaryl just smirked and walked off the stage and to her seat, grabbing her cup of coffee from the floor and walked back. 

“But you know what? I read that coffee really helps getting rid of fleas quickly.” Tugger immediately dropped the act and moved to stop her.

“Hey knock it off-"

Victoria jerked up in her seat, looking ready to kill. “Hey, don't you dare, Amaryl!“

Mistoffelees had yet to catch on, but the second he realized what was happening, Amaryl had walked right up to him and poured her entire cup of lukewarm black coffee all over him.

The room was dead silent and even Gus appeared to be too shocked to act. Victoria moved to get up from her seat and most likely attack Amaryl, but was held back by Etcetera and Electra, fighting back hard against their grip.

Mistoffelees was too shocked and humiliated by the sudden attack that he had no idea what to do with himself. But as it sunk in what had actually happened, he felt tears sting in his eyes and his powers were now fighting hard to fight back against this horrid mistreatment.

Amaryl sneered him, still holding onto her cup and feigning a look of innocence. “Something wrong, _pollicle_?” 

She said ‘pollicle’ in such a mocking tone and with underlying disgust that he really wanted to throttle her. But as his tears threatened to fall and stung in his eyes, he also really wanted to run out of the classroom and hide somewhere. Or preferably even run home and lock himself away in his room.

His powers were fighting hard to be released, like a wild horse that was bound and he had to clench his paws tightly so no one would see any sparkles or that he’d accidentally destroy something with his magic.

But as he looked into her eyes and saw the victory in her face, he felt a fire start to burn in his gut. No, he refused to give her the satisfaction of letting her win. 

Play a pollicle, huh? 

Well, if you insist...

So he smirked back, fighting back the tears, lifted his chin and braced himself. 

“Woof!” Then, he started to shake his body as hard and rough as he could, sending droplets and small streams of coffee flying at Amaryl, her friends, Tugger and a few of the other cats in the front rows around the stage.

Amaryl and her friends started shrieking as their expensive clothes and neatly groomed fur got stained with coffee, and even Tugger tried to hide behind his arms to protect his fur and mane. 

As he got increasingly dizzy and almost tripped, Mistoffelees stopped shaking himself and put on his dumb dog face, smiling widely and hanging his tongue out his mouth and looked over at Amaryl before giving her cheek a good, long and wet lick.

She cried out in disgust and outrage, wiping at her cheek and started to scream about how he had ruined “ruined I tell you!” her very expensive clothes and was going to pay for the cleaning,

The rest of the class had now started to laugh at the mess on stage, and Tugger was smirking very widely at Mistoffelees. “Wow, looks like this pollicle's got bite!"

But Gus was certainly not amused. He bellowed out _“ENOUGH!”_ His voice much stronger for a cat who looked so frail. The room immediately got quiet and turned to him with a deer caught in headlights look while Gus glared furiously at Amaryl.

“ _Amaryl!_ ” She shrunk back, suddenly looking very afraid and stopped fussing with her clothes. “Pull a stunt like that again and you will be suspended! I will _not_ tolerate this behavior in my class, from _anyone_. Is that clear?"

She nodded meekly, clearly as surprised by his outburst as everyone else. He nodded and then pointed to the door. “Good. Now, that's a week's detention. Report to the principal's office.” And when Amaryl tried to protest, he raised his voice and made it even firmer. “ _Now_ , young lady.”

Amaryl started to pout, looking over at her friends and Tugger for help, but Tugger just fluffed up his mane and stalked off the stage, giving her a cold glare as he passed her. And Lily and Rose just smiled apologetically as they scurried off the stage and to their seats, leaving her alone. 

She then cried out in anger, snatching her bag from the floor and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. 

Gus then turned to Mistoffelees, who was slowly walking off the stage, head lowered in shame as he pulled at his wet and stained clothes. “Are you alright, Mistoffelees?"

Mistoffelees drew a deep, somewhat shaky breath and turned on his blank and emotionless persona, smiling his polite yet dead smile. “Yes, I'm fine. I just… think I need to clean up a little.” 

Gus nodded slowly, gently leading him towards the door, not caring about staining his own clothes. “Of course, my boy.” He turned to the rest of the class. “We'll take five minutes, Victoria would you mind helping your brother clean up?”

Victoria got up from her seat before he could even finish the sentence, but Mistoffelees just shook his head and walked up and out of the classroom alone.

“No, that's alright. I can do it myself.”

As he left the room, hurrying down the hallway towards the closest bathroom, he fought hard against the tears all the way and clenched his paws tightly, trying desperately to ignore the tingling.

_‘Yeah, this day is certainly off to a good start.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I feel bad for writing this, I just feel so bad for my boy. But it will get better soon, I promise! Maybe not next chapter, but soon.
> 
> Some links of pics of how I imagine the school looks!
> 
> The enterence: https://www.google.com/search?q=hollywood+arts+set&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwje98HjjPjpAhXUdZoKHVQGDu8Q2-cCegQIABAC&oq=hollywood+arts+set&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIECAAQEzoHCCMQsAIQJzoECAAQDToECAAQHlCSsQFYuLUBYNe4AWgAcAB4AIABswGIAfICkgEDMS4ymAEAoAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=TUThXp6dAtTr6QTUjLj4Dg&bih=641&biw=1024&prmd=imvn&rlz=1C9BKJA_enSE592SE592&hl=sv#imgrc=VSLS-UV0deu2RM
> 
> Classroom: https://www.google.com/search?q=sikowitz+classroom&rlz=1C9BKJA_enSE592SE592&hl=sv&prmd=ivsn&sxsrf=ALeKk02eNP29QTBYxYUtx7DYSaZnjm7sDg:1591821676168&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj9z7bsjfjpAhVF_CoKHUDsDGQQ_AUoAXoECAsQAQ&biw=1024&bih=641#imgrc=dH-WtRcE8X4FsM&imgdii=c-uSiEk0wvlrrM
> 
> https://www.google.com/search?q=sikowitz+classroom&rlz=1C9BKJA_enSE592SE592&hl=sv&prmd=ivsn&sxsrf=ALeKk02eNP29QTBYxYUtx7DYSaZnjm7sDg:1591821676168&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj9z7bsjfjpAhVF_CoKHUDsDGQQ_AUoAXoECAsQAQ&biw=1024&bih=641#imgrc=79TH-O3-GfPdIM&imgdii=KOAfirAT_1N5KM


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mistoffelees is doubting himself and his place at Jellicle Arts, but gets a pep talk from an unlikely candidate, as well has some introspective revelations with himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY! Finally I get to write some Tuggoffelees! Well… okay not really, but a nice moment where they're talking and being somewhat friendly and Misto- well, let’s not go into spoilers, yet.  
> 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Somehow Mistoffelees managed to make it through the day until lunch time. Though most of what happened between the first class and until then didn’t stick in his memory.

After having cleaned himself, his fur and clothes to his best efforts, he had reluctantly gone back to Gus’ class, with large brown stains on his white shirt and smelling vaguely of coffee. At least his pants and coat were so black that the brown stains were nearly invisible.

Though just barely.

He had been very tempted to use a quick spell to get rid of stains and whatever coffee was still sticking to his fur, but that would have raised way too many questions that he definitely didn’t want to consider, never mind answer, so he just decided against it and wiped at the stains with soaked napkins and tried to cover most of it with his coat.

Though he thanked the Everlasting Cat that the only other class before lunch was math, which allowed him to just sit in the back with Victoria and didn't have to participate in any more humiliating exercises or having to get up in front of the class.

Victoria spent a big chunk of the rest of Gus’ class and the math class apologizing for not warning him properly about Amaryl, how she never thought she'd do something like that, that he really shouldn't let her muddle his day here, etc. Mistoffelees didn't really listen and kept looking down in his notebook and taking notes.

Speaking of Amaryl, once she came back from the principal's office, she spent the rest of the class glaring daggers at him and doing petty, immature to annoy and spite him, like throwing crumpled pieces of paper at him or making snide, pointed remarks directed at him whenever she said anything, but disguised enough so no one could point it out, let alone punish her for it. 

Though it was clear that Gus really wanted to and several cats were glaring daggers at her, that she either didn't notice or care about, and just spent the rest of the class talking and gossiping with her friends when she wasn’t being immature or mean.

Mistoffelees did his utmost to appear unbothered and uncaring of her pettiness, but it grew harder and harder to keep the mask on and fight back the tears, and he could feel the whole class stare at him through the whole hour and a half, which only made harder and harder. He had never been more relieved to hear the bell ring to signal the end of the class in his life.

And he had also spent the most of the math class really question what the hell he was doing here. 

Because, despite all of her nasty attitude and bullying nature, Amaryl was right was right about one thing.

Mistoffelees wasn't anything special. Everyone who went here were super talented and it showed through with everything about them, their clothes, their style and- of course- their personalities. All while Mistoffelees clearly had about much personality as a wet rag and had absolutely nothing that grabbed anyone's attention. 

He really should just turn around and flee before he could make an even bigger fool of himself. 

His role in life had and always been to stay invisible and stay average. After all, not every cat was born for greatness or to be anything special. And Mistoffelees had always been fine with that being his role in life. 

So what was he doing here, trying to fool himself into thinking that he belonged in this place? 

Yeah, better quit while you're ahead.

So as soon as the class ended and everyone started to head towards the cafeteria, Mistoffelees instead started to head towards Old Deuteronomy's office. 

Victoria looked questioningly at him. “Hey, where are you going? The cafeteria is that way.” 

Mistoffelees turned to look at her, adjusting the bag over his shoulder. “I'm not going to lunch. I'm going to find Old Deuteronomy and tell him I quit. Then I’m going home."

He turned to leave before she could answer, but he had clearly underestimated his sister, because she rushed up and grabbed his arm, forcefully turning him around in record time.

“ _What_? Why?” Mistoffelees grimaced at the tight grip on his arm and Victoria's claws dug into his skin. He gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her paw from his forearm. 

“Because I don't like having black coffee in my fur.” She grimaced, trying to smile through her obvious worry. 

“Uh, I can go get cream and sugar if that’ll make it better.” Mistoffelees just rolled his eyes at her lame joke and turned around to leave, but she grabbed him and turned him around again. “Oh come on Misto, you can't quit over this! It's barely been half a school day yet!”

He yanked his arm back. “Tori, I don't belong here! There is absolutely nothing about me that fits in here.” Victoria rolled her eyes back at him and grabbed his shoulder, shaking him somewhat roughly.

“Why? Because _Amaryl_ said so? Why are you listening to her? She’s a horrible monster and no one here likes her!"

Mistoffelees shook his head. “It's not just her, Tori. I just…” He turned around and looked at the colorful decorations and student projects that had been hung up and gestured at them. “Look at this place! This whole school is everything I'm not. I'm not supposed to be here! You are the shining star, and I'm not. Amaryl was stating the truth about that part.”

Victoria shook her head, rolling her eyes again. “Oh come _on_ , Misto, you're not even trying! You’re not even giving this place a real chance! You've already decided you don't belong here so you're just looking for something, _anything,_ to tell you to leave! Everyone else here agrees that you definitely belong here! Old Deuteronomy, Skimbleshanks, Munkustrap, my friends, they’ve all welcomed you with open arms. The only one whose saying you don't belong here is _you_!"

Mistoffelees glared at her. "Tori, you know just as well as I do that not everyone is fit for the spotlight. There are literally millions of cats in the world who just live life, working 9 to 5 jobs and their names never reach past their workplace. And clearly I'm one of them, nothing wrong with that."

She shook her head. “You’re only saying that because you're scared! You don't think _I_ was scared when I first started going here? Everyone is nervous on their first day, that's part of life. But I know you're definitely good enough for this place and to be a shining star, if you just put in the effort.”

“And _you're_ just saying that because you're my sister!” Mistoffelees surprised himself by raising his voice and immediately regretted his words. Because Victoria was his biggest and only supporter and he didn't want to lose her.

It wasn’t her fault he wasn’t like her, and it wasn’t worth losing her over something like this.

But she just stared at him, looking a bit hurt before taking a breath and slowly walking up to him. “Misto… I get it. I really get it. Dad's gotten in your head and you just want to please him and make him happy. But he doesn't control you. He doesn't get to decide how you should live your life. Maybe he does want you to go back to your school again, but how long are you going to let him control your every move?"

Mistoffelees narrowed his eyes and raised one eyebrow. This was not where he expected this conversation to go. “Where are going with this, Tori?”

Victoria sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Dad is right that other cats might be alarmed by your powers, but how long is that going to stop _you_ from living your life? From discovering new interests and hobbies and things you like to do? Or from meeting and making friends? That might work for now while we're still in school and live at home, but what about ten years from now? Do you intend to just exist in your own little bubble and never do anything? Or still live with dad? And what will you work with if you never try anything new? Sure an office job might be easy enough, but you'll run into challenges there too."

Mistoffelees just stared at her. “Still not seeing your point here, sis.”

She groaned and shook her head dramatically. “Misto, you can't go through life quitting everything! You will never find anything you like or want to do if you never try something new and stick with it for longer than a day. You can't live your life constantly doing what dad wants or what he tells you to do, or relying on me for support. Because, as much I love you and want to help you, I really want you to find something that's all yours. A life that's all your own, where you decide what you're going to do and have friends and other cats who love you. Not just me.”

She then smiled softly and rubbed his arm. “And I really think you might find all of that here. It's the perfect place for cats like us.” 

But Mistoffelees just looked her in the eyes, unemotional and blank-faced. “No. It's the perfect place for cats like _you_.” 

Then he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Victoria behind.

* * *

Mistoffelees eventually found Old Deuteronomy's office and took a deep breath to brace himself before knocking on the door. 

He heard a “Come in!” and opened the door. 

“Old Deuteronomy, I’m sorry to bother you but I…” He trailed off as he saw Old Deuteronomy wasn't in the room. Instead, who should sit there but the infamous Rum Tum Tugger himself. He was sitting reclined in the chair by the desk, feet kicked up on the desk and holding a pair of drumsticks in his paws, smirking at Mistoffelees. 

_‘Oh joy. Just what I needed.’_

“What are _you_ doing in here?” Mistoffelees folded his arms over his chest, fighting hard to not sound too accusing.

But Tugger just smirked wider, twirling one of the drumsticks between his fingers. “Rockin’ out!”

“Isn't the principal going to be mad that you're sitting in his office with your dirty boots on his desk?"

_‘Okay, not doing such a good job with not sounding like a suspicious jerk there, Misto.'_

Tugger however either didn't care about his attitude or was the most dense cat in all of England, because he just sat up a bit straighter, twirling with his drumsticks. 

"Nah.” He then pointed with one of the drumsticks to Mistoffelees and then to himself. “ _You_ call him principal. _I_ call him dad.”

Mistoffelees’ raised his eyebrows and his arms fell to his sides. “He’s your dad?” Tugger nodded with a smile, which prompted Mistoffelees to roll his eyes and groan. “Of course he is."

_’Well, that explains why Munkustrap was here this morning. Easy to ask your son to help out with a new student.'_

He shook his head and walked further up to the desk. “Well, do you know where he is?”

Tugger sighed and sat up properly. “Probably out getting lunch with Skimble and Jenny. They go out almost every Monday. He'll probably be back in an hour or so.”

Mistoffelees groaned and rolled his eyes. “Ugh, great.” He took a deep breath and looked back at Tugger. “Well is there a number or an email address I can reach him on?"

But Tugger just eyed him curiously, still playing with those drumsticks. He kicked his feet off the desk and leaning his arms on his thigh. “Why do you wanna talk to him so bad? It can't wait for an hour?"

_‘Ugh, why him? Of all cats to be stuck with, why did it have to be him?’_

Mistoffelees just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms again. “Well, not that it's any of _your_ business, but I am just going to inform him that this isn't going to work. This school isn't for me.”

Tugger immediately got up, dropping his drumsticks and his eyes narrowed. "Wait, what? You're gonna quit?”

Mistoffelees just shrugged. “Yeah, what about it?"

Tugger stood up, fluffed up his mane and stared incredulously at him. “Seriously? After not being here for even a day? Is this about what happened with Amaryl?” 

_‘How about you just mind your own damn business, mister?'_

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Mistoffelees turned to leave. “Whatever, I'll just go home. I am _not_ dealing with this.” He took out his phone from his pocket, ready to text Victoria. But before he could even begin writing, Tugger snatched the phone out of his paw. 

"Nope!” And when Mistoffelees moved to snatch it back, he placed in his back pocket. “Nu-uh.”

Gaping in complete shock, Mistoffelees glared at him. “Give me back my phone!” He tried to reach around and snatch it out of Tugger's pocket, only for Tugger to push his arm away.

He also looked up, uncharacteristically serious all of a sudden, half glaring at him. “You're really going to quit on your _first_ day in a new school because of a stupid, spoiled princess?"

Mistoffelees shrugged and shook his head. “It's not just her, it's just… I don't fit in here with all of this! You guys thrive on no structure and crazy, wild creativity and that's about as far away from me as you can possibly get.”

“Aw come on, this place isn't any different from any other school.” Tugger shrugged and smiled. But Mistoffelees just rolled his eyes again, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Oh yeah, like every school does acting classes, and condones graffiti on the walls and have students that pour black coffee all over you after making you humiliate yourself by acting like a damn pollicle! Yeah, my school does stuff like that all the time.”

Tugger laughed and shook his head. “You know, if they ever make Sarcasm or Eye Rolling an into Olympic sport then you'd probably be a golden medalist.”

Mistoffelees groaned and walked away to sit and sulk on the sofa, folding his arms over his chest and pouted like a child. 

This somehow made Tugger laugh again. “I get the very distinct feeling that you don't like me very much.” 

Looking up from his sulking, Mistoffelees stared over at him with a raised eyebrow and his driest expression. “What gave it away?”

Smirking, Tugger walked around the desk and made his way over to the armchair, sitting on the back of the chair. 

“And you know, I also get the very distinct feeling that you don't want to like this school. In fact, it feels like you already knew you didn’t want to want to go here.”

Grimacing mockingly, Mistoffelees sneered at him. “Ooh listen to me, I'm so smart because I'm a sophomore and older and wiser than you. Bleh!"

But again, Tugger just shrugged with a wry smirk. “I'm a freshman, actually.”

This prompted Mistoffelees to look up and just started with wide eyes at Tugger. “...you're a freshman?” Tugger nodded, still smiling. “But, you look like you're sixteen…”

Tugger shrugged. “Eh, you’re close. I turn sixteen in two months.”

Mistoffelees stared at him for several long seconds before it clicked together. “You were held back?”

Tugger nodded, lightly slapping himself on his thighs before standing up again. “Yup.” He started walking slowly around the room without any real purpose. 

“I've always been told I'm indecisive, doing whatever I wanted to for the moment and not caring about stuff that 'needed to be done.’ Or picking one direction then picking another and never following through on anything. So eventually they told me that I hadn't been getting good enough grades to move onto sophomore year. So, here I am."

Mistoffelees rested his head in one paw, smiling wryly at him. “And I'm sure playing rockstar in daddy's office instead of going to math class had nothing to do with it.”

Laughing again, Tugger sat down on the desk, leaning his weight on his arms and smirked back. “How dare you? I will have you know that I am the model of good behavior and punctuality, short stuff."

Then he seemed to get serious again, tilting his head to the side and eyed Mistoffelees, both curiously and little concerned. “So, what makes you think you don't belong here? We all saw you dance last Friday, we all know you've got the talent. The principal himself offered you a place here on the spot. So what's the problem?"

The smirk immediately fell of his face and Mistoffelees looked down at the floor. He knew that blaming Amaryl for the entire reason why he wanted to quit was weak, on top of being incredibly untrue, but he didn't know what else to say. 

Eventually he sighed and brought his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs. “My father… he doesn't want me to be here. He wants me to go a normal school, like normal cats.”

Tugger narrowed his eyes, then nodded a bit understandingly. “Hm, that explains why he was so upset by your performance. But why?”

Mistoffelees bit his lip, wracking his brain for an excuse that seemed plausible enough, then sighed heavily. “Let’s just say my father… he’s ashamed of me. He wants me to the perfect, ideal son but I’m not.”

He lowered his head and tightened his grip around his legs. “He’s always loved Victoria more than me. I can never do anything right as far as he’s concerned.”

The room was silent for a long time before Tugger spoke again. “I’m sorry, kit. You don’t have to talk more about it if you don’t want to, you know. It's none of my business anyway.” He raised his paws in a placating fashion. 

Mistoffelees raised an eyebrow at him. “You don't wanna know?"

“Oh I do.” Tugger nodded with a small smile. “I am an incredibly curious cat by nature." Then his smile turned a bit somber, and even a tad bitter. “But I know what it's like to have family secrets you can't talk about with anyone, or even want to. And how tough it can be when your family doesn’t seem to care about you. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel. And I get it if you don’t wanna talk about it."

Mistoffelees looked up. “Is it about Macavity?” 

The question flew out of his mouth before he could think for even a second and then immediately paled. 

Tugger looked up with a shocked and taken aback, staring at him with wide eyes and Mistoffelees had never wanted to sink through the floor any more than right at that moment. “I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ask that, I swear! It’s just, Old Deuteronomy mentioned him and… you know what, nevermind, I didn't think, you don't have to-"

Tugger held up a paw with a weary, resigned look on his face. As if he had dealt with this kind of question before. Many, many times. 

“No, no. It's okay.” He sighed again, very wearily, and looked away, glowering at the wall. “And yes, it is because of… Him."

He groaned softly, running a paw over his face and suddenly looked extremely weary and a bit uncomfortable. “Macavity was… let’s just say he started hurting me and Munk in ways that never really went away. Even now years later. He was messed up for years, got worse and worse until eventually he crossed the line and dad kicked him out."

Tugger rolled his eyes, his face suddenly extremely bitter and sore. “The story was _everywhere_ for _years_. I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without getting questions about Macavity or asking if anyone else in our family was like him.” 

He then snorted, still sounding bitter and folded his arms over his chest. “And if it wasn’t about Macavity, they’d talk about Munkustrap; Mr. Perfect Who Can Do No Wrong. It’s always ‘Macavity this’ or ‘Munkustrap that’, or ‘Tugger why can’t you be more like Munkustrap?’”

He gagged with a disgusted grimace, then he looked back at Mistoffelees. “So yeah, I get it. I know exactly how you feel, and how it is to have a bad relationship with your family. I just don’t get why. Your dad doesn't want you here, that much I get. But why does it matter so much to you what he wants. I mean, I disobey my dad all the time and he doesn't care too much.” Then he paused, frowned contemplatively, shrugged and turned back to him.

“Well I mean, he cares, obviously. But he loves me anyway. So long as I don't start doing drugs or anything then I don't think he cares about what I do or my interests. Just so long as I'm happy. He didn't even complain too much when I wanted to learn to play the bagpipes and spent several hours a day practicing.”

Raising an eyebrow, Mistoffelees stared at Tugger with a very dry expression, though with a very small smile on his face. “You play the bagpipes? _You_?”

Tugger grinned and nodded. Mistoffelees snorted. “Why? I mean, no offense or anything, but you strike me more as Mick Jagger than… classic Scottish musician."

Tugger shrugged again, grinning wider. “What can I say? I'm a curious cat.” Then he picked up his drumsticks again, twirling them. “Besides, after learning to play the guitar, the drums, the keyboard and piano and the base, I guess I wanted to learn something more... unique.”

_‘Wow. At least the guy's dedicated, I'll give him that.’_

“And you chose the bagpipes? Of all the choices of instruments you could have gone with, you went with the bagpipes?” Mistoffelees smirked, one eyebrow raised and his voice teasing.

Tugger shrugged again. “Curious cat, kit. Curious cat.” He winked with a smirk. “You'll get used to it.”

_'Yeah, if I were here to stay, I might have.'_

And Tugger seemed to remember that too, because he turned serious again. “So, back to my question, why do you care so much about what your dad thinks? Is he that strict?"

Mistoffelees groaned softly and rolled his eyes. “You have no idea.” He then stood up and started to walk around the room, equally as aimlessly as Tugger had earlier.

“Well, I mean, honestly I don't think he cares too much about what I do specifically just so long as I don't do anything that draws too much attention to myself. So that means a lot of dancing and… reading. And homework.” A long, awkward pause followed. “That's about it.”

Tugger stared incredulously at him. “That's all you do? What about friends?”

Mistoffelees just looked away, folding his arms defensively and closing his eyes to avoid any tears. “Cats don't really wanna be friends with the freak who barely talks. With anyone. At all."

He didn't want to look, but he felt Tugger's eyes on him. “Oh.” Was all he said and Mistoffelees could hear him walk up to him before feeling an arm gently wrap around his shoulders. 

“Well, _I_ could be your friend. Whether or not you’d want to go to school here or not. No one should be _that_ alone.” 

Mistoffelees looked up, staring incredulously him and Tugger smiled softly. “Look kitt, from one cat with a messy family life to another, let me give you a piece of advice someone once gave me. We’re not obligated to stay in those bad situations. I was in a bad place for years because of everything Macavity had put me, Munk and dad through and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t _want_ to get better for a long time. I just wanted to wallow in my own anger and grief. But when I started here, things got better. Not immediately, but eventually. I made new friends, the classes here are great and I got better.”

He gently sat him down and pulled him a little closer. “I don't know how your situation with your dad is, but your life doesn't revolve around what _he_ thinks. If you want to go to this school, then do it. Who cares about him and what he thinks? Because, quite frankly, you should be here."

Mistoffelees looked up and Tugger smiled gently at him. "Look, I'm not going to force you to do anything. You wanna leave, then leave. I'm not going to stop you. But you're right about one thing, kitt.”

Mistoffelees raised one eyebrow expectantly.

Tugger smirked. “This place isn't totally normal."

Mistoffelees smirked and rolled his eyes. “You don't say."

Tugger snorted, but then turned serious again. “But you know what, you're not totally normal either.” Mistoffelees froze up and stared at him. Could he sense he had magic too, like Old Deuteronomy had?

But if he noticed that Mistoffelees was suddenly super stressed and worried, he didn't care. Tugger pulled him a little closer, smiling a very genuine and friendly smile.

“I’ve seen what you can do on stage. You're special. You're incredible. You belong at this school.” He gently patted him on the shoulder before getting up, gathering up his drumsticks and started to walk towards the door. But as he passed the couch he stopped in front of Mistoffelees and smiled again.

“Normal is boring. Average is for boring cats who just work the 9 to 5 jobs and whose names never reach past their workplace. We work to entertain cats and make an impression on others.” He then winked and smirked. “And you're more than welcome to join us.”

And with that, Tugger sauntered out of the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Mistoffelees alone in the office to think. 

He leaned back on the couch, suddenly feeling very overwhelmed and confused. 

_'Huh. I guess there's more to that blonde himbo than I thought. There might be a brain in there somewhere under all of that mane after all.'_

He felt very conflicted all of a sudden. Because while the fear and anxiety was still there, Tugger's words had hit it's mark and now he had no idea what to do anymore. 

He glanced down at his paws, watching the sparks dancing over his fingers and claws, and sighed heavily. 

He wouldn't come to any good decisions here, he knew that much. Too many impressions and conflicting feelings. 

He needed space. And alone time. 

* * *

Once Mistoffelees made it home he quickly hurried up to his room, threw off his coffee stained clothes, took a quick shower before locking the door behind him and sat himself down on his bed in a pair of worn out pajama pants and a ratty t-shirt.

He'd never once ditched school before, but considering that he wasn't officially enrolled in Jellicle Arts yet and he had been granted three days of excused absence from his other school, it probably wouldn't mean anything. 

He grabbed his laptop from his bag before looking up the Jellicle Arts website, looking up the videos of the performances from the showcase, clicking on his and Victoria's dance. 

It was strange, watching himself dance like this; as if he didn't have a care in the world and with such a pure, unadulterated joy pouring out from every movement and his face. 

And as he watched, he realized how meaningless it was to try and resist. Because who was he trying to fool? He had loved it. He had loved dancing with his sister, he had really liked hanging to Victoria and her friends and he had a certain fondness for weirdness going on at that very strange school.

But Amaryl's words had also hit a sore spot in him. He didn't feel special or unique or extraordinary. His clothing was boring, his interests were boring, he was boring. Why would he fit in with anyone like Victoria, Tugger or anyone else at that school?

He sighed and leaned back against the headboard, staring off into space. 

It was such a strange yet wonderful feeling. To be wanted by someone. To have other cats say that he was great and they wanted him to be apart of their group.

Mistoffelees had spent his entire life bending over backwards to make his father happy, make sure that he never went against his father's wishes and become the model son. The very image of perfection, obedience and lawfulness. 

Everything to make him happy.

So that one day he might earn his father's love back. 

But after eight years of doing that, nothing much had really happened. His father was still cold and distant and never showed him any real affection. And for all his work of trying to please him and do everything to please, he never got anything for it.

He remembered when he was a kid, he had been a very mischievous and playful kitten. Always ready to mess with his sister, his father and his uptight friends. 

Disappearing toys and silver, making himself invisible to steal sweets and snacks, frozen to scorching tea, pulling things from out of thin air, everything he could think of. 

Sometimes there were even tricks and pranks that didn't involve magic at all. Like when he had replaced Victoria's toothpaste with mayonnaise or when he had poured fur dye into his father's fur tonic.

Bustopher had been walking around with purple fur on his head for a week. 

The memory still made Mistoffelees giggle with excited glee and elation. 

Maybe... maybe there was chance he could bring that Mistoffelees back? The kid who was kind and caring and polite, but still playful and liked to mess with others in ways that was so well-thought out and sneaky that no one could ever figure out he was the one who did it. 

After all, no one ever suspected the shy and innocent little kitten to ever speak a mean word to anyone, nevermind dyeing his father's fur purple. 

Still, it was a great risk to himself. It would mean putting himself out there, risk the chance of getting hurt or- Heaviside forbid- he might hurt someone else. But that was something Old Deuteronomy had promised he could help with, so was it worth it the risk?

It probably wouldn’t be easy. He had spent years working on his walls and shutting everyone out, so the idea of opening himself up to the world was nothing short of terrifying.

But if he wanted friends, or something he could be a part of, he probably needed to actually put in some effort of his own. Not just constantly push everyone away while still longing for the things he wanted.

If he knew Victoria right she would be banging down his door the second she got home and try to convince him to come back. But she was his sister, he had grown to expect that from her. 

It was the fact that Tugger had opened up to him and reassured him that he did belong with them, that he was more than talented enough to join the other cats at that school, that had really gotten to him. 

Because if someone as seemingly self obsessed as The Rum Tum Tugger could step down from his pedestal long enough to reassure someone like him, then didn't that mean something?

All he had wanted for so many years was to be wanted by someone. To have others wish for him to join them, not the other way around. 

And despite not having been apart of their world for very long, he had very quickly fallen in love with it in a way he hadn't expected. And even though the risks were great, that it was unsafe and he was still scared, it was wild and free and wonderful. 

He wanted it. He wanted it so badly, despite every flaw and risk and fear he brought up to himself. 

And Victoria had been right. He hadn’t given her school a real chance, having already decided that he didn’t want to like it here. He needed to find something that he liked and actually stick with it for longer than a day or be scared because his father disapproved of it. 

He was fifteen years old, it was about time he started to gain some autonomy of his own. 

Besides, he'd only been to Jellicle Arts for a few hours, barely half a day, which wasn't nearly enough to really get to know a school. 

He looked back down at the laptop screen, watching himself dance with a wide smile and so at ease despite being on stage, and nodded to himself.

He was going back tomorrow.

_'Watch out Amaryl, I'm coming for you.'_

He got up from the bed and walked over to his closet and started to rummage through his closet for something, anything, more relaxed than his stiff coats and tight shirts. But he came up pretty flat. 

“Ugh, this is unbelievable. Do I seriously not own _anything_ that's not black or white? Or this stiff?” He muttered to himself as he looked through the rack of black coats and jackets, until something both black and silver captured his eye. 

It was hidden deep in the corner of his closet, forgotten for who knows how long and still had the price tag on. A black cotton shirt with silver stars and golden sports covering it. It was simple, but eye-catching enough to be nicer than his normal stiff clothes. 

It had probably been a gift from Victoria for his birthday or Christmas that he'd disregarded because his father wouldn't like it. 

Well screw that, because this shirt was nice!

He smirked and looked it over. “Perfect!” He ripped the tag off and threw off his pajama pants and t-shirt and left it all in a pile on the floor. 

Once he had pulled out one of his softer and well-worn white button downs, a pair of clean black jeans and the black shirt, he tried it all on. He even tied one of his simpler, more ordinary bow ties into a much simpler bow rather than it's normal very proper one, just to complete the look before taking a look in the mirror.

It was perfect. He looked like a normal cat and not just a carbon copy of his father.

Well, almost. 

He raised one paw to his head, ruffling through his fur to ruffle it, making the image perfect. 

Victoria was right again. He needed to loosen up a bit, and leaving his fur more ruffled and teased like this was a much better look that leave it all slick and licked back. 

_‘Oh, I'm ready now.'_

Now, all he needed to do was find a way to get back at Amaryl. To show her he wasn't going to take her behavior lying down and let her treat him the way she had.

Because while if he could just claim the moral high ground and ignore her and just move on with his life, he wanted to make sure she knew to never mess with him again. 

Because to do nothing was akin to saying that it’s okay, which it wasn’t. Bullying should never be tolerated and when something was wrong you needed to make it right. 

If there was one thing he had learned that had stuck with him even as he grew less mischievous and cheeky, it was that if you thought life was unfair and if you let others walk all over or sit on you, then nothing would ever change and so nothing could get better.

Mistoffelees had never been one to humor bad behavior, even at his most polite and well-behaved behavior and had never backed down from politely telling them where to stick it. Normally his cold and prickly attitude was enough for most cats to take the hint and leave him alone, if only because of how nasty he could be while dressing up his words as nicely as possible so he wouldn’t get in trouble with the teachers. But it was clear that Amaryl was not like those other cats. 

She was the Alpha, and he needed to take down the Alpha in order to get her to back off. Permanently. 

But he still wanted to cover his own tail. To make sure he wouldn’t get in trouble with the teachers or principal before he even get enrolled.

And he knew just the thing. 

After quickly getting out his clothes and back into his pajamas, he hurried to his father's bathroom and rummaged through his many bottles of colognes, shower gels and fur care until he found what he was looking for. 

Fur Tonic for Toms. With the smell of lavender and musk. Use in small doses on white fur to avoid risk of discoloring. Keep out of reach of children.

Yup.

He then went off to Victoria’s bathroom and rummaged through her bathroom cabinet until he found what he was looking for. Platinum blonde fur dye, extra strong. 

It had been a part of a phase a few months back when she had just started going to Jellicle Arts and wanted to get a new look. Only it hadn't really had any notable affect on her fur, despite how strong it was. And so it had been left in her cabinet to collect dust, probably forgotten.

And one of the perks of having to listen to Amaryl and her whining and complaining over the course of the Acting class was that he had snapped up something very interesting. 

That Amaryl had dyed most of her fur platinum blonde and spent a lot of time perfecting her looks before the first class almost everyday.

And look at that, the brand Victoria had bought just so happened to be the exact same brand that Amaryl was using!

Perfect.

Mistoffelees grinned devilishly before hurrying to his own bathroom and locked the door behind him, just in case, before he slowly and carefully got to work, carefully and methodically pouring the fur tonic into the bottle with fur dye. He made sure to avoid spilling any of it on his paws or clothes.

Then, as the bottle started to fill up, he got another brilliant idea. 

_‘Just to complete the payback!’_

He stopped pouring and hid the evidence at the bottom of his garbage can and ran downstairs to the kitchen, running up to the coffee maker and shook the container to see if it was empty.

Wow, what a stroke of luck! It wasn't.

And so, Mistoffelees carefully poured the remaining black and ice cold coffee into the bottle of fur dye and fur tonic before closing the bottle to allow it to settle.

He even shook the the bottle harshly to make sure everything would blend together nicely. 

He giggled devilishly and ooh boy, he remembered this feeling. 

The adrenaline of doing something you know you’re not supposed to do, the elation of getting revenge and the glee of the oncoming schadenfreude.

"Look out London. Mistoffelees Jones is back in town. And I get the very strong feeling that he's sticking around for a while."

Once everything felt good and settled enough, he hurried up to his room and placed the bottle in the bottom of his school bag. 

_‘I can't wait for tomorrow! Say goodbye to your perfect fur Amaryl, because it isn't sticking around.'_

* * *

A few hours later, once Victoria and Bustopher had gotten home from their work and school, they settled down for dinner together.

Mistoffelees had changed into somewhat more proper clothing, if only because pajamas at the dinner table was frowned up by mostly everyone. 

But he was ready. 

No more nice and quiet Mister Mistoffelees. 

Though he still had a wild case of butterflies in his stomach and he still felt a bit anxious about what he was going to do.

Victoria had immediately tried to grab him and tell him that they needed to talk about this, but Bustopher had trapped her and asked her about her day before she had gotten the chance.

Mistoffelees sat as he normally did, with his back straight and eating his dinner with his usual good manners and feigned politeness. 

Victoria eyed him and their father the whole time, knowing that she needed to wait for Mistoffelees or their father to start talking before she could. 

Which left the first fifteen minutes of the dinner a bit awkward. But eventually Bustopher looked over at his son and asked, carefully, “So, Mistoffelees, how was your first at Jellicle Arts?"

Victoria eyed Mistoffelees warily, but Mistoffelees just sighed and shrugged. “Well, it could have gone better. There were this one cat who wasn’t very nice to me.”

Bustopher looked at him with a very concerned and surprised look, because Mistoffelees didn't sound very upset or hurt by this. 

Even Victoria seemed surprised by his sudden change in attitude. 

“Oh, really?” Mistoffelees nodded and took a bite of his dinner. 

“Yeah. I can only hope tomorrow goes better.” 

Victoria's head snapped up and she looked incredibly surprised by his very sudden change of tone. 

Bustopher also stared very surprisedly at him, staring down at him with wide eyes. 

This wasn't what he had thought or hoped he would hear. “Tomorrow? You're going back there?"

Mistoffelees raised an eyebrow, turned to his father and tilted his head to the side. “Yes. I am. Do you have a problem with that, father?”

And if Victoria hadn’t been shocked before she certainly was now. She hadn't seen Mistoffelees stand up to their father in years, if ever. And the way he said 'father’ was so full of underlying disdain and force that it left her completely gobsmacked, her eyes threatening to fall out their sockets and her jaw hitting the table. 

But it was nothing compared to the absolute shock and almost fear that was seen on their father's face.

Where had _this_ come from?

Mistoffelees had never been one to act out or talk back to him, not for several years. He had gotten so used to his son never once trying to disobey or question him that he had no idea how respond to this. 

But Mistoffelees nailed him to his seat, his blue eyes drilling into his skull and leaving him unable to look away. “Well? Is there a problem?”

Bustopher swallowed and shook his head. “N-no, of course not, son. I’m just surprised. I had assumed that you wouldn’t be too eager to go back to Jellicle Arts, especially considering that there were cats who were mean.”

Mistoffelees just shrugged his shoulders, pursing his lips. “Yeah, well you can’t very well judge a whole school based on one mean cat, can you? Especially after only one day. One needs more than one day to get an informed opinion of a whole new place, right?”

Victoria stared at her brother, frozen somewhere complete shock and unadulterated happiness. She hadn’t seen this side of her brother in years, and just like seeing him dance last Friday, it nearly brought tears of joy to her eyes. 

Finally, her brother was starting to come back.

Their father stared, equally as shocked, but nodded slowly. “W-well, I suppose, but-“

Mistoffelees cut him off by standing up, grabbing his plate. “Good. Well, I’m done. Thanks for the dinner.” He quickly put his plate and utensils in the sink before walking out of the dining room and up to his bedroom. 

Once he made it to his room and closed the door behind him, he felt himself deflate and slump back against the door, breathing heavily and not quite knowing if he wanted to laugh or cry or both. 

Because the idea of standing up to his father had sounded easy in his head, it had been completely and utterly terrifying to actually follow through with it. He still had butterflies in his stomach and felt like his soul had somehow separated itself from his body and was floating somewhere high above the ground.

His paws were tingling like crazy and sparkles were dancing over his paws, equally as giddy and pumped with adrenaline as he was. Slowly, as it sank it what he has just done, he started to laugh softly and tears slowly started to fall from his eyes. 

He felt so liberated. Like he was starting to slowly wriggle free from his father’s tight grip on him. 

He heard a soft knock on the door and Victoria’s voice from the other side. “Misto? Can we talk?” 

He quickly opened the door and let her in, but had barely closed the door behind them before he was almost knocked to the floor as his sister wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

“Oh Everlasting, Misto! I’m so proud of you! I can’t believe you just did that!”

Mistoffelees stumbled back a little before instinctively wrapping his arms around her, smiling as she nuzzled her nose against his cheek and returned her nuzzles.

“Yeah, me neither. I don’t know how I did it, but I guess the Everlasting Cat gave me the strength.”

Victoria laughed and pulled away, her paws still on his shoulders and smiled widely at him with tears in the corner of her eyes. “What made you change your mind? You sounded so convinced before and then you left without saying anything or sending a text or anything. What happened?”

And in that exact moment Mistoffelees remembered that he never actually got his phone back and Tugger had walked away with it still in his pocket. 

_‘Oops… stupid jerk!’_

He bit his lip and shrugged with a sheepish smile. “Would you believe me if I said I lost my phone?” 

She stared incredulously at him. “You? You lost your phone? How did that happen, you never lose anything!”

Mistoffelees shrugged again. “It’s a long story, but the TLDR is that I ran into Tugger at the principal’s office and when I tried to text you, he didn’t let me. I guess I forgot to demand him to give it back.”

Victoria stared at him for a long minute before dragging him over to his bed, sat him and sat beside him, placing both paws on his shoulders and looked expectantly at him. 

“Tell me everything!”

And so he did. Well, almost. He told her how he had met Tugger in the office and that they'd started talking about how Mistoffelees didn't feel like he belonged at the school and how Tugger reassured him and told him he definitely did. 

But he left out the details about how he had said that their dad loved her more than him, or how Tugger had opened up about Macavity and his own more private feelings.

That had been between the two of them, not anyone else. 

Victoria was beaming, smiling from ear to ear and bouncing a bit on the bed as Mistoffelees told her about how, after he had gotten home, he had decided to give the school a second and proper chance and go back tomorrow. 

And, again, leaving out the details of the bottle of fur dye, fur tonic and cold coffee in the bottom of his bag. 

Let it be a surprise for tomorrow. 

She squealed and threw her arms around him again, wrapping them around his waist and pressing her face against his cheek.

“Oh Misto, you have no idea how happy this is making me! I'm so glad you're doing this!” Mistoffelees smiled and hugged her back.

“I just realized you were right. I've been living in a bubble for years, keeping everyone away and too scared to try anything new. But if I'm ever going to learn to live my life on my own and find things I like to do, or ever find anyone who might want to be my friend-"

Victoria shushed him and hugged him tighter. “You will. You most definitely will."

He smiled and resumed talking. “-then I need to actually make an effort of my own. I can't keep waiting or wish and dream from the shadows. Or let father make every decision for me. It might take me awhile to fully free myself from his grip on me, but I going to fight to get out from under father's thumb,” He stood up from the bed and smiled down at his sister. “And try to become my own person, and find a way back to the kitten I used to be. And find the cat that I really want to be and become."

Victoria choked up as she looked up at him, wiping at her eyes with her paw and holding back a small sob. 

Mistoffelees froze as he saw her, leaning down and placed a paw on her back. “Tori?"

She sniffled and looked up at him with wide, teary eyes. “I'm sorry, it's just-“ She stood up and gently wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder. “It's like finally seeing you again. Not the cat that dad has made you become or the little glimpses I've seen here and there, but _you_. That little kitten I knew as a kitten. The real you."

She sniffed and hugged him tighter. “I've really missed you.”

Mistoffelees felt himself tear up and hugged her back, squeezing her tightly as he fought back his own tears. “I'm going to try to be that cat more, Tori. Not just for you, but for me. Because I want this. I only want to ask for one thing from you."

Victoria nodded, slowly pulling away to look him in the eyes. “Anything."

He looked down at the floor, his tail wrapping itself around one of his legs sheepishly and he took a deep breath before he looked up again. “I can't promise to become an entirely new cat overnight and I probably need time. Maybe a lot, maybe a little, I don't know. So… Just, promise to try and be patient with me, okay?"

She smiled, placed her paw on his cheek and wiped away a tear from under his eye. “Of course. Just so long as you promise to fight against the urge to keep fleeing whenever something scary happens."

He chuckled and nodded. “Deal.” 

They hugged again and Victoria pressed a light kiss to his forehead before slowly walking towards the door. “Good night, Misto."

“Good night, Tori.” Mistoffelees moved to get changed into his pajamas again, when Victoria stopped and turned around in the door. 

“Oh! And by the way, first class tomorrow is dance class with Skimbleshanks. So if you want to join in, remember to pack your dancing gear for tomorrow."

He gave her thumbs up and nodded. “Got it. Thanks!” She smiled and closed the door softly behind her. 

Mistoffelees smiled after her, through the closed door before making sure his bag was packed, that everything was ready for the morning and, just to be safe, looked over the bottle of fur dye and placed it in a small plastic bag just in case things got messy. 

Then he placed it safely in the bottom of his bag, under his dance clothes and shoes and placed it by his desk chair, where tomorrow's outfit was laid out, ready for the morning. 

He smiled to himself, paws on his hips as he looked over his bag and clothes, nodding in satisfaction.

He was ready.

Then he changed into his pajamas, went to brush his teeth and got ready for bed.

He really couldn't wait for tomorrow to come!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! Hopefully I will have next chapter written soon, as it's going to be a lot of fun to write (and hopefully read) but we'll just have to wait and see. 
> 
>   
> So this chapter was quite an emotional rollercoaster and hopefully nothing seemed too fast or out of character. 
> 
> Also, the inspiration for Mistoffelees’ clothing came from Munku-strap-on and their amazing art work!  
> https://munku-strap-on.tumblr.com/post/612411240118124544/jellicle-fashion-jellicle-fashion-brace
> 
> I hope you enjoyed you this chapter and please comment, leave kudos and subscribe.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mistoffelees returns to Jellicle Arts with a new attitude and finally gets to show off his talent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter kinda ran away on me and became super-long. Eventually I decided that it became too much and that I would split it in two, so I could flesh out the second part of this chapter. 
> 
> So never fear, it doesn’t end here!
> 
> Also, small side note, but I’ve changed the name of one character from Ivy to Rose, just FYI. 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

* * *

The next morning, Mistoffelees didn’t waste any time dragging his feet.

He was up and out of bed the second his alarm went off and practically jumped into the shower before he ran downstairs to join his family for breakfast.

There was no time to waste today!

When he came down to the dining room, Bustopher was already there and eating his breakfast. Victoria had yet to come down yet, but that was hardly new. She hated mornings and preferred to sleep in for as long as she could rather than seize the day with gusto.

Another thing that was different between the two of them. 

Normally Mistoffelees would be a little anxious about being alone with his father like this, but today he refused to feel like that.

He refused to have his good mood spoiled today. Especially by his father. 

So he just walked past him with a quick “good morning!” before accepting a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon from his father’s personal cook and sat down to eat.

He could feel his father looking at him, probably very disapprovingly and he most likely wanted to refuse allowing Mistoffelees to go back to Jellicle Arts.

Hah! Let him try.

So Mistoffelees just kept his eyes down on his plate and ate as if he hadn’t noticed his father’s staring at him, trying to ignore the part of him who yelled at him for being so disrespectful and rude to his own father. The part that kept telling him that it was better to be safe than sorry and to just listen to his father and go back his normal school.

Because, as tough and scary as this felt, he had promised Victoria to try. He had promised _himself_ to try. To commit to this, to follow through for once and give this school a fair chance. 

To give himself a chance at being who he really wanted to be. 

Victoria eventually came sauntering into the room, looking very tired and with her fur tousled. Still, she smiled widely as she took a seat on the other side of the table and started eating her own breakfast.

“Good morning! Ready for day 2?”

Mistoffelees nodded and smiled, taking a sip of juice. “Yup! Ready as I’ll ever be.” 

He made sure to not sound too excited though. If he sounded too eager and excited, Victoria would get suspicious, considering how out of character he was already acting. And she’d also realize he had something up his sleeve for the day.

Because, if he was being honest with himself, most of the excitement came from the idea of turning over a new leaf and deliberately going against his father, not so much the school itself.

Also, his plot for revenge factored into it, but she definitely didn’t need to know about that. 

Yet.

Bustopher stayed quiet through the entire meal and just observed his son, silently and nervously. Because he could hardly recognize his own son anymore. 

While Mistoffelees still didn’t talk much and focused more on his food, his entire body seemed to radiate excitement and confidence, something he hadn’t seen in almost a decade.

It was more than a little unnerving, not to mention jarring considering how nervous and stiff he had been only twenty-four hours ago.

And he couldn’t for the life of him decide if he liked it or not.

“Well, come on Misto, we should get going.” Victoria got up and grabbed her plate. “I promised Cettie that I’d help her with warm-ups before class, so we need to be a little early.”

Mistoffelees smirked to himself as he stood up with his plate. 

_‘Perfect, that gives me a little time to seek out Amaryl before class and switch her bottles out.’_

Though he made sure to smile more innocently to Victoria and their father, which was surprisingly easy. Though he had spent years perfecting his poker face, it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise. 

He hurried upstairs and changed into his black sweater, white shirt and black pants before grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. 

He also stopped in front of his mirror and ran his fingers through his fur, ruffling it and leaving it charmingly and mischievously tousled. He nodded to himself and smiled to his own reflection. 

He was ready.

Victoria knocked and came in, only to stop short when she saw what he was wearing. Or, more specifically, his sweater. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes round and wide.

“You… you kept that shirt?” She asked, her voice weak and small, as if she had thought he wouldn't. Mistoffelees nodded and pulled slightly in the hem of the sleeves.

“Yeah, I must've thrown it somewhere far into the back of my closet or something. Honestly I had kinda forgotten that I even had it, but it's very nice."

Victoria smiled and eyed the silver stars and golden spots. “I gave you that last year for Christmas. I thought it would be simple enough for you to wear but still stand out enough from your usual clothes.” She then looked away and her ears folded against her head. “But you never wore it, so I assumed you didn’t like it."

And suddenly Mistoffelees felt like the biggest jerk in the world and he felt his heart break a little when he saw the look on her face. He ran forward, placed both paws on her shoulders and tried to smile as reassuringly as possibly. 

“No, no, I like it! I love it!” It wasn't a lie. It was indeed simple and not too eye catching, but still very cool and looked great on him. 

He tugged on it, adjusting the sleeves and hems. “Really, I honestly think I kept it hidden because I figured father wouldn't like it.” 

He then looked up and smiled at his sister. “But I promise, I like it! I had honestly just forgotten about it, that's all."

That seemed to be enough to reassure her and she smiled at him, looking him over from head to toe. “Well, you look great. Much more relaxed and comfortable. Just…” She tugged on her bag and started to dig through it before she found a small can of fur spray, ran her fingers through his fur and gestured at him to bend forward.

“Hold your breath.” He did, and she gently sprayed a little over his head. Then she ran her fingers through his fur again and sprayed a little bit more before seeming satisfied and put the can back in her bag.

“There. Now it won't get messed up immediately.” She then started towards the door. “Now come on, let's go!"

As they made it downstairs and Bustopher saw how Mistoffelees was dressed, he looked about ready to faint. Or maybe pop a vessel. 

He stared at him for a long minute, but Mistoffelees just ignored him as he tugged his shoes on. It felt a little weird to be stared at like that, not to mention by his own father, but he did his best to act as if he hadn't noticed he was standing there.

"Mistoffelees?” 

He looked up at his father, putting on his most innocent face, with a very smile on his face. “Yes father?” 

Bustopher looked a bit uncomfortable as he thought over his words, looking over his son's ruffled and somewhat messy fur, his mundane shirt and the star-covered sweater.

It wasn't exactly anything indecent, but it was just so different from his usual pristine and proper clothing. He cleared his throat and tried to sound curious as he asked, “Are you going to wear that?” Though he ended up sounding just a tad bit judging. 

Mistoffelees bristled a little at his tone, but smiled his widest smile and looked down at himself, acting as if he was preening under a loving father's attention. 

_‘Hah, I wish.'_

“Yes. Do you like it? Victoria got this sweater for me and I'd completely forgotten about it. Isn't it nice?"

His father felt stuck. He couldn’t very well say no, obviously, but he wasn't quite sure about how he felt about his son wearing such a visible and attention grabbing sweater. 

Still, he smiled and nodded. “Yes, it's… very tasteful."

Mistoffelees was secretly delighted by how uncomfortable his father sounded. He was caught between a rock and a hard place with no way of saying the right thing without giving a slightly backward compliment, which was really nice.

He couldn’t say he didn't like the shirt, but his long pause and asking if Mistoffelees was really going to wear it proved he didn't. Though he couldn't say he he didn't, because then he'd also admit that he didn't like it and most likely hurt Victoria's feelings as well as say he didn't like what Mistoffelees was wearing. 

It was glorious to watch him squirm like that.

But Mistoffelees made sure to keep his innocent and happy smile as he and Victoria opened the door. 

“Bye daddy, see you later!”

Mistoffelees just waved at him, but made sure to keep eye contact with his father for ten long and uncomfortable seconds. 

He was smiling, but silently daring his father to tell him not to go. To demand that he go to his normal school, or go change clothes or anything, maintaining eye contact with him until the door closed behind them.

The walk to the school was a lot more pleasant this time around, though there were still some butterflies fluttering around in his stomach as they got closer and closer and felt a little awkward.

He had technically ditched school yesterday, even if he wasn't enrolled yet. And he was starting to realize that he would probably get stared at or asked about it, especially by Victoria’s friends. And Mistoffelees absolutely dreaded being stared at. 

Victoria seemed to sense his discomfort and grabbed his paw, squeezing his paw reassuringly. “It's going to be okay, Misto. Even if they stare or ask, you're not obligated to answer. You know that, right?"

Mistoffelees took a deep breath through his nose and nodded, smiling stiffly. “Yeah, I know. But like I said, just because I know I want to do this doesn’t mean that it's going to be easy. I still have no idea what I'm doing here, I'm flying blind."

Victoria squeezed his paw tighter and shoved him a little. “Well, not completely. You've got me in your corner, Misto, and you always will. And from the sound of it, it sounds like Tugger is with you too."

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes and snorted, but silently felt pretty good about having someone in his corner other than his sister. 

As they made it to the school, there were already a big crowd of students there, getting ready by their lockers. Though in the big crowd, Mistoffelees managed to spot a few familiar faces. Demeter and Bombalurina was standing by one of their lockers, talking and brushing through their fur as they got ready. 

Alonzo and Munkustrap were sitting on the steps, talking amongst themselves and looking through a book and stopping every once in a while to jot something down in their notebooks. 

Jemima, Etcetera and Electra were standing by their lockers, chatting animatedly amongst themselves and giggling about something.

Thankfully everyone seemed too wrapped up in their own little bubbles that no one really seemed to notice him or Victoria at the moment.

Victoria grabbed Mistoffelees' arm and lead him over to her locker, which was very nicely designed with bright colors and covered in fluffy feathers.

Mistoffelees tilted his head at her locker and then looked around the room, taking in every locker, all of them different and eye catching.

“Hey Tori?” 

She looked away from taking her books out of her bag into her locker. “Hm?”

“Why does every locker look different from the others?”

She smiled and placed the last book in her locker and then closed it. “Oh that's because every student gets to design how their locker looks after they start here. It's a tradition, plus it helps show a bit of every student's personality and creativity.”

Mistoffelees nodded, but then looked up and towards the doors when he heard a familiar voice. “Oh Everlasting, who decided that school needed to start so damn early in the morning?” And he immediately dived in behind Victoria, as Amaryl marched into the school, flanked by Rose and Lily and they started to make their way to the queens’ bathroom.

Perfect, now he needed to make sure he wouldn't lose track of her. And thankfully Victoria hadn't seemed to notice him jumping in behind her and just turned to smile at him.

“So, I'm going to join Etcetera in the dance studio and help her warm up, do you wanna come with?" Mistoffelees shook his head with a smile and shrugged. 

“Uh, not immediately. I actually need to go to the bathroom before class.” She nodded and adjusted her bag.

“Okay, but remember, the dance studio is up those stairs,” She pointed towards the steps where Munkustrap and Alonzo were sitting. “Then to the right and down the hallway. The changing rooms lead directly to the studio."

He nodded and then watched as she left his side to join her friends and Mistoffelees snuck into the crowd of other students, easily disappearing between all the many bodies and faces. 

He eventually caught sight of Amaryl and her friends, just as they disappeared into the queens’ bathroom. 

Mistoffelees tightened his grip on the strap on his bag, took a quick look around to make sure no one was there before diving behind a large trash can, which thankfully was big enough to hide his lean and short form. 

This had never been something he had ever, ever considered doing before, even on his most mischievous and cheeky day. It wasn’t risk free to sneak into the queens’ bathroom when you’re a tom and if he got caught he’d probably get thrown out on the street faster than he could say ‘no wait, I can explain’

Still, he probably wouldn’t get any better chances than this, so if he wanted to go through with this then he needed to do it now.

_‘Well, it's now or never.'_

He took a deep breath and a swig from the bottle for courage before whispering, "Presto!” and turned himself invisible. 

It had been a very long time since he had used his magic in a public place or turned himself invisible, but it was just as easy as it had been when he was a kitten. And the tingling in his paws and the magic inside immediately calmed itself when it was allowed to be used. 

After looking around and waiting for another queen to walk by and into the bathroom, and followed close behind her and quickly raised a paw to his face, just in case.

Everyone deserved privacy in the bathroom, after all. 

But he was grateful to see that not only was Amaryl just standing in front of the mirror, adjusting her make-up and fur, but her bag was just left wide open and the bottle of fur-dye was right there, sticking up from the bag and ready to take.

_‘Oh this will be easy!'_

He quietly snuck up to the bag, slowly reached into his bag and grabbed the bottle of fur dye, fur tonic and coffee, got it out of the plastic bag and quietly grabbed the one in Amaryl's bag (which thankfully turned invisible the second he touched it) and replaced it with his own concoction before slowly sneaking towards the door again, feeling the adrenaline pump through his body and had to cover his mouth with his paw so he wouldn't laugh out loud. 

“So, will you need help with your fur dye, Amaryl?” Rose asked, leaning against the sink next to Amaryl, taking a sip of the coffee in her paw. 

Amaryl shook her head, all of her focus on her mascara. “No, I'll save it for after dance class today. I'm going to need to shower afterwards anyway, so I might as well save perfecting my fur for later.” She then smirked wickedly at the mirror. “Too bad we won't get to see that little dweeb dance today. He who was _sooo_ good at the showcase.” 

Her tone was extremely mocking and condescending and Rose laughed along with her, though Lily just smiled awkwardly. 

Amaryl then shrugged, putting her mascara down and started to apply some lip gloss. “Well, it serves him right, really. That's what he gets for thinking he that he belongs in a place like this."

“Do you think he's gonna be here today?” Lily asked, arms folded over her chest and tried to talk as nastily as possibly. Though it was clear her heart wasn't really into it.

Amaryl just snorted, making kissy-faces at the mirror and then smacking them. “Of course he isn't. If the kit can't last one day here than he's not gonna have the guts to show up here again.” She then turned to her friends, smirking wickedly at them.

“That's how showbusiness works, girls. You have to fight for the spotlight and don't assume that people are gonna share it with you. You have to fight and bare claws and teeth and get rid of the weak ones. After all, gotta leave room for the _really_ talented ones.”

Mistoffelees gritted his teeth and clenched his paws tightly, his claws digging into the pads of his paws. 

_'Oh yeah? That’s how it was gonna be? Well, fine then! We'll see who's talentless at dance class then, huh?'_

He then silently creeped out of the bathroom, looked around and undid his invisibility spell and hurried off towards the dance studio.

* * *

By the time he made it there and changed into his dance clothes and shoes, several of the other students had already gotten there and were warming up or chatting amongst themselves. But every head towards him as he walked in through the door, ready for class.

Mistoffelees did his best to ignore all the looks directed at him and kept his back straight, shoulders back and properly looked more confident than he felt. He left his water bottle by the door with the others and looked around for Victoria, but spotted Tugger before he saw her.

Tugger was standing and talking with Bombalurina and had his back towards him, talking with her animatedly. Though he still had his bag over his shoulder and Mistoffelees could only hope that he had his phone with him in it. 

He marched up to Tugger, ignoring the looks from everyone else and stopped right behind the taller cat and cleared his throat, loudly and pointedly. 

“Excuse me.” Tugger jumped and turned around, his eyes widening in surprise as he saw him, then smiled as he realized who was behind him. 

But Mistoffelees started talking again before he could, his arms folded over his chest, leaning on one leg and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“So, were you planning on giving me back my phone at any point?”

And suddenly everyone was staring at Tugger, though Mistoffelees liked to bet that it wasn't the kind of attention Tugger liked to have.

Bombalurina looked incredulously at him, placing both paws on her hips and glared over at her friend. “Did you _take_ his phone? You told me you found it in the locker room."

Tugger turned to glare at her before turning back to Mistoffelees with a sheepish smile on his face as he reached into his bag. 

“Oh yeah, sorry about that, short stuff. I kinda forgot about it-“

“Yeah I noticed.” Mistoffelees cut him off and snatched his phone back. “Should I be worried that you've been snooping through my private stuff or changing the login code?"

Tugger shrugged with a smirk. “Nah, don't worry about that. I'm not that kinda cat.” He winked and then leaned in closer, lowering his voice.

“And evidently it worked, considering you’re back. I take it I got through to you with my charm and wisdom?”

Mistoffelees snorted and rolled his eyes. “Hardly. I just figured I'd at least go through one full day and give it a proper chance.” 

Tugger smiled and placed an arm around his shoulder, pulling him over to his side and smiled widely to Bombalurina. 

“So Bomba, I'd like you officially meet my new friend Mistoffelees. He's new here and doesn’t know anyone yet, so we're gonna be extra nice to him!” Mistoffelees rolled his eyes and shook his head with a small smile, but felt a little at ease with Tugger's arm around his shoulders.

Bombalurina smiled and shook her head at her friend before turning to Mistoffelees with a warm smile. “Yeah, I think we've met once or twice. So, nice to see you didn't quit on us so soon.” 

Mistoffelees laughed weakly and shrugged. But before he could answer he heard a gasp from the door and in the corner of his eye he saw Amaryl stand in the doorway and stare at him with her mouth hanging open. 

And she was staring at the arm that Tugger had placed around his shoulders, looking both shocked and furious.

But he just chose to ignore her and kept his eyes on Tugger and Bomba, trying ignore her. He already knew she wouldn't have used the fur dye yet, so he had no reason to pay her too much attention yet. 

_‘If she has something to say to me, she can come up to me and say it.’_

But before she could, Skimbleshanks came into the room, dressed in workout pants and a t-shirt and a bag over his shoulder.

“Alright, gather around now, class is starting so let's settle down.” He then paused when he saw Mistoffelees and broke into a big smile.

“Ah, Mistoffelees you're back! Glad to see you're back here again. I heard you had a rough day yesterday?” 

Mistoffelees winced, an embarrassed blush covering his cheeks and he looked away. “Uh, yeah. I'm sorry for leaving, I just… I had a bad day and-.”

Skimbleshanks just smiled and shook his head. “Eh, don't think about that, lad. You're here now and that's the important part. Now, let’s get right into it.” 

He clapped his paws together and the class sat down on the benches that stood along the wall. Tugger sat down beside Bombalurina and looked up at Mistoffelees, patting the space next to him with a smile. And Mistoffelees gladly took the seat and returned his smile, though not quite as widely.

Skimbleshanks then turned to Plato, who Mistoffelees now noticed was sitting next to Victoria, and it looked like his foot was lightly bandaged. “Plato, how is your ankle? Are you sure you're ready to join us so soon?"

Plato nodded with a small smile. “The Doctor said nothing was broken or sprained, but that I just needed to take it easy today."

Skimbleshanks smiled widely before turning to the whole class. ”Good to hear, lad. So, today we're going to work on technique. Most of you already have the basics down for classic ballet at this point, but there's always room for improvement."

He then took a few steps back. “Now, observe. I am going to demonstrate a move called fouettés en tournant. It's trickier than it looks and requires a lot of technique, so pay attention.”

Mistoffelees immediately straightened up and smiled widely.

_‘Finally, something I’m good at here!’_

Skimbleshanks got into position, spread out his arms and performed the move, spinning around a couple of times before placing his foot back down and looked down at the class with a smile.

He was rewarded with applause and he took, a small bow. “Thank you. Now, we’ll start with warm ups, but then we’re going to practice this move. But first, warmups. You already know the drill, so get moving.”

The class quickly got up and spread out over the room, starting with joint movements to get their joints, hips, upper body and necks warmed up and joints fluids active, before moving on to doing push-ups, sit-ups and other practices before finally moving on stretching at the barres, while Skimbleshanks slowly walked around the room to adjust their positions or movements.

None of this was new to Mistoffelees. Most, if not all of this had been drilled into his brain since he was four and he had no trouble keeping up with the others.

When they started to walk to the barres, Mistoffelees moved to stand close to Tugger and Bombalurina. But while he managed to stand next to Tugger, on his other side was Rose, who was throwing him very dirty glances.

Looking her over, she seemed a bit more athletic than Amaryl, but she did not have the same dancer body that he had seen from others, like Victoria or Tumblebrutus or literally any of the cats he had talked to or seen practice at the showcase.

Still, she had to have danced for at least some time. Besides, ballet wasn't a dance you could just decide to pick up for fun, it was extremely demanding and hard work on your body. So if she was in this class, she had to good, right?

She threw him a condescending glance as he stretched his leg up and rested his foot on the barre, as if judging his every move. 

He tried his best to ignore her glare.

“I hope you dance better than you act.” She eventually said, very snootily. Mistoffelees looked up and over his shoulder at her, one eyebrow raised and not even stumbling while stretching.

He smirked cockily and raised his chin confidently. “As a matter of fact, I do. Much better, actually."

But Rose just scoffed and rolled her eyes, stretching her leg back, raised her foot and grabbed it from over her shoulder. “If you can't keep up with the rest of us, you'll just have to sit on the bench and watch while we dance. I will _not_ have this class dumbed down and simplified so a dumb newbie can keep up."

Mistoffelees narrowed his eyes at her, rolled his eyes and looked away. She probably thought he had followed Tugger so that he could copy his movements instead of his sister, so he wouldn't look so dependent of her.

Pfft, as if he needed to.

Actually, if Mistoffelees was being completely honest with himself, Tugger looked a little stiff and not completely like he had mastered some of these movements. While Tugger’s tall body was very lean and not incredibly muscular, he clearly had a dancer’s body, despite not looking incredibly flexible.

He wasn't bad, far from it, Mistoffelees had seen as much during the rehearsals. But he probably hadn't danced for quite as long as lot of the other cats here. Or maybe he just wasn’t a ballet dancer. He did have a stronger rock and roll vibe rather than ballet after all, so maybe this wasn't his true passion as far as dance went?

And considering how Skimbleshanks had mentioned that most of them had learned the _basics_ of ballet, perhaps this was some kind of mandatory class for freshmen and sophomores and didn't mirror every cats skills. Several of these cats seemed too good for learning basic ballet, especially after what he had seen at the showcase.

Still, he smirked at Rose over his shoulder as he raised his leg into to the air in a vertical line, taking pleasure as he saw her stare, suddenly very taken aback. 

_‘Game on, princess. Hit me with your best shot.’_

Once everyone were finished with warmups, Skimbleshanks gathered them all in one end of the room, smiling and taking a wireless speaker out of his bag and connected it with his phone. 

“Alright, I am going to show you a very small dance which you will attempt to copy and it will end in a fouetté en tournant. But please, don't feel bad if you don't get it right on your first attempt. Like I said, this move is muck trickier than it looks."

He demonstrated the move one more time and Mistoffelees made a point of looking out over the other students, who either looked a bit nrvous or determined. Very few of them looked as confident or calm as he felt in that moment. 

_‘Well, good for them I'm here to show them how it's done.'_

Skimbleshanks smiled and clapped his paws together again. “Well then, who wants to try first?"

And Mistoffelees barely let him finish the question before he raised his paw. After the fiasco that was yesterday, he was very eager to show everyone that he actually did belong here. That he wasn't just some kitten who got lucky. “I do!”

Skimbleshanks smiled very brightly and gestured at him, waving him over. “Ah, fantastic Mistoffelees! Come right up here."

Mistoffelees slipped through the crowd and walked over to him, only now managing to catch a glimpse of Victoria in the crowd and she smiled widely, giving him thumbs up and mouthing ‘you got this!'

Though he also heard Amaryl and her friends snicker somewhere behind him. “Aw lookie, kitten thinks he can impress."

He ignored her, laughing inside his head as he remembered the bottle in her bag. 

_‘Just you wait, you little bitch. Just you wait.'_

He got up next to Skimbleshanks, who pressed a button on his phone and music started. “Now, watch as I do and try to copy it. But again, don't feel bad if you don't get it entirely right."

Mistoffelees nodded, putting on his most innocent smile, as if he was a little bit nervous and not actually really smug under the surface.

Skimbleshanks gently gestured at him to step back and then started to dance across the room, gracefully dancing around in a small circle, performing a few pirouettes, a few jetes before eventually moving into the fouetté and spinning a few times before moving into a finishing pose and turned to Mistoffelees, smiling invitingly and gestured to the floor.

“Well, you're up lad. Best of luck!” 

Mistoffelees smiled and got into position before mimicking the choreography. It was simple and he made a point of making it look as easy as possible, just to stick it to Amaryl and her drones.

Because why not?

And, as he moved to perform the fouettés, he didn't settle for just two or three. No, he decided to go for his usual twenty-four turns, just because he could. 

As he reached ten spins, he could hear the other students murmur and sounded very impressed or shocked by how easily he danced, and as he reached twenty, a few of them whooped and clapped and he eventually stopped at twenty four, performing a small jump and then got into his finishing position, keeping his head lowered and bowed to the others. 

The room was silent for one long second before they started to clap and cheer. Mistoffelees looked up and smiled, though locked eyes with Amaryl and Rose, as they stared with their jaws hanging open and eyes ready to pop out of their sockets. 

Tugger clapped the loudest, standing up and cheering. “Wonderful! Now that is talent if I ever saw it!” And perhaps he was just trying extra hard for Mistoffelees to feel welcomed after their talk yesterday, but at his praise several of the other cats nodded and clapped louder, which felt really, really good. 

Also, he sounded very, very genuine while cheering and clapping.

Skimbleshanks also looked very, very impressed as he applauded and walked up to Mistoffelees and placed a paw on his shoulder. “Excellent work, Mistoffelees, just excellent! Though, I have to ask, did you not perform that series of turns at the showcase last Friday? I seem to recall something that looked like that."

Breathing heavily and smiling widely, Mistoffelees nodded and took a sip from his water bottle. “Yeah, The Conjuring Turns.”

Electra tilted her head curiously and smiled. “Really? That's what it's called?"

Mistoffelees looked over at her and shrugged, smiling sheepishly at her. "Eh, it's what _I_ call it."

Amaryl scoffed and rolled her eyes. “What _you_ call it? Yeah, like you can just change the names of dance moves because you feel like it.”

Victoria turned to look at her with a scowl on her face, yet also a very smug smirk tugging on her lips. “He _can_ when it's _his_ move, Diamonds!” She then turned to Skimbleshanks with a very sweet and proud smile. “Mistoffelees came up with The Conjuring Turns on his own, Skimbleshanks. It's his signature move."

Skimbleshanks turned to Mistoffelees with a very impressed look on his face, a wide smile spreading over his face. “Really? You perfected it all on your own?"

Mistoffelees shrugged and smiled a bit awkwardly. “Uh, well I mean, technically yes. See, I was working on fouettés last year and one day I asked myself, 'how many turns can I do before I trip?’ So I started to practice them and worked very hard every day for months to get them right. At first I could only do three, then five, then ten and just kept going until I reached a point where I felt satisfied.” 

Tumblebrutus raised his paw but didn't wait for Skimbleshanks to let him speak. “What's your record?"

Smiling widely, Mistoffelees turned to him and hummed as he thought. “Well, I usually go for just twenty-four, but sometimes when I really push it I can reach thirty-two, though that's pretty rare.”

The other cats looked very impressed, but Amaryl just rolled her eyes. “Ugh, yeah right! You're just making that up to make yourself look good, don’t lie. You can't be _that_ good, you're just spinning in a circle. A _child_ could do that, no trouble."

Mistoffelees tilted his head slightly, as if he hadn't heard or understood what she had said, and narrowed his eyes confusedly, cupping one paw behind his ear.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I don't speak Pollicle.”

Amaryl's smug and annoyed look vanished and she was left looking confused and taken aback, before rolling her eyes again and sneering at him. “I am _not_ a Pollicle, you idiot!”

Mistoffelees’ eyes widened and put on a very exaggerated look of surprise as he looked back at her, before letting it turn into a cold and disgusted sneer. “Really? Because you sound like a total _bitch_."

A low ‘ooh’ was heard through the whole group of cats and Victoria had to slap a paw over her mouth so she wouldn't burst out laughing. Though Tugger was not the least bit considerate and was right there laughing with the others. 

Amaryl’s jaw fell open and she stared at him with murdering eyes, looking like she was ready to attack and kill him. But Skimbleshanks stepped in between Mistoffelees and the rest of the class, paws raised and giving them all a stern frown.

“Alright, alright, settle down now. I will have no fighting or arguing in my classroom.” He then turned to Mistoffelees with a smile. “You can go back to the group, Mistoffelees. And again, excellent performance.” 

And Mistoffelees was happy to return his bright smile before running over to the other cats and took his place next to Tugger, who placed an arm around him again, patting his shoulder and shaking him lightly.

“Great job!” And Mistoffelees would be lying if it didn't feel good to have this cat in his corner.

_‘Huh, maybe this guy isn't so bad after all? Yeah, he could dial back the ego a little bit, but he's at least nice enough.'_

Skimbleshanks clapped his paws again. “Now, who wants to go next?” 

Amaryl raised her paw, smuggly walking up to the front and sneered over at Mistoffelees condescendingly. “Me. I will go next, and show the kittens how it's done.” 

She said the last part while looking directly at Mistoffelees, who just shrugged in a 'be my guest’ way with an innocent smile. 

Skimbleshanks looked a bit hesitant, but shrugged and started to play the music again and Amaryl started to dance across the room. And while she wasn't technically bad, she wasn’t exactly what Mistoffelees would call a ballerina. Her movements were a bit stiff, her landings when jumping were sloppy and unsteady and her pirouettes were also looking very unsteady.

Still, he’d seen worse.

If he had to choose a word to describe her dancing, it would probably be mediocre.

But as she reached the cue to try the fouettés, she barely reached one turn before losing balance, tripped and fell to the floor, looking very dizzy.

Which resulted in several cats laughing and snickering lowly, but Skimbleshanks immediately stopped the music and started to shush them, looking a little angry. 

“Hey, hey now, none of that! I said that this move was harder than it looks, no laughing when someone doesn't get it right away.” He then helped Amaryl to her feet, but she just snatched her arm out of his grip and pouted childishly. 

She tried again, the choreography still looking shaky and unsteady, and once again barely reached one turn before tripping again, this time because she accidentally kicked her leg with her other leg and hit the floor again. 

And despite Skimbleshanks’ lecturing, there were still several cats laughing as she failed, though some of them were at least trying to cover it up or trying to stifle it with their paws or by biting their lips. 

Tugger however had no qualms about laughing at this girl, and Bombalurina had to elbow him in order to get him to stop, though she was grinning too. 

Not that it worked anyway, as he just kept laughing and smirking.

Mistoffelees looked over at Victoria, who was smiling devilishly at him and fighting hard to not laugh. Mistoffelees shrugged innocently, though he reveled in the schadenfreude of watching Amaryl fall over again as she tried for a third time and Skimbleshanks told her to go back to the rest of the class, gently encouraging her to practice at home and there would be time to work on and perfect it in class. 

As she passed Mistoffelees, she glared down at him with hatred in her eyes. As if it was his fault she couldn't perform the move. Or maybe it was because he was standing next to ‘her Tuggsie.'

Still, he just looked back at her, giving her his most innocent look, as she marched over to her friends and planted herself down on the floor, arms folded and pouting like a five-year old as Tumblebrutus got up to try this time. 

Mistoffelees looked over his shoulder, locking eyes with Rose again, who blushed furiously and looked away. 

_‘Who's the newbie dancer now, huh?'_

Then he looked over at Amaryl, who was glaring daggers at the floor and shrugged off Lily's comforting strokes on the back. 

Mistoffelees smirked and turned back and watched as Tumblebrutus pulled of five turns before stopping and received cheers and applause as well, leaving him grinning widely and took a bow and got back to his spot as Jemima took his place. 

_‘Gotta make room for the real stars, right Amaryl?’_

Mistoffelees sighed happily to himself, already feeling much, much better about being in this school than he had yesterday.

And the best part was yet to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never been to a ballet class in all my life, so I have no idea how it usually works, but considering this school is supposed to be kinda weird and kooky, I figure it fits within the narrative that it goes against the norms.
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter and please comment, leave kudos and bookmark!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Mistoffelees gets a more thorough look at Jellicle Arts, makes new friends and gets his revenge!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this took much longer than I wanted it too. But in my defense I have been very busy and when I haven't been busy, I have been very tired and didn't feel like writing. 
> 
> But now I'm here, and I am glad to give you the conclusion to the introduction of this story (only seven chapters long). 
> 
> I'm going to take a small break after this chapter, if only to figure out where to go from here, but I'd be very happy to hear suggestions for stories and ideas for the future, so feel free to leave suggestions in the comments!
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

* * *

After dance class had wrapped up, all the freshmen made their way to History class and the sophomores headed off to Geography class, meaning Bombalurina left with a small wave as she exited the queens’ changing room.

At first Mistoffelees thought this meant that Tugger might lose interest and maybe ditch class again, but he didn't. He stuck by Mistoffelees the whole way from the changing room and to the classroom and even sat down in the desk next to him. 

It felt a little weird to have someone who wasn't his sister hang around him so much, especially since he still barely knew Tugger and was only starting to warm up to his very talkative, attention-loving and loud personality. 

He was a lot to take in. Especially after spending so much time _not_ talking to anyone at all, even the shy or quiet ones. 

But Tugger was also very a reassuring safety net, even if he spent most of his time yammering on about everything and nothing, talking Mistoffelees’ ear off through the whole class, while Mistoffelees just rolled his eyes or shook his head annoyingly.

It was a bit annoying at times, especially when he actually tried to pay attention in class. But it was also kinda nice to have someone acknowledge that he was there and acted like his friend.

Very nice, actually.

And once History class wrapped up, Tugger lead him out of the classroom and towards the cafeteria, smiling widely and placed an arm around him again.

“You're gonna love the cafeteria, kit. It's the best! Especially when the weather's nice, then we eat outside!”

Victoria came running up to them, panting a little as she tried to keep up with Tugger's pace, having shorter legs and almost needing to jog to keep up.

Though, Mistoffelees kinda had to too, so he wasn't going to say anything about it.

“Hey! Trying to steal my brother from me, Tugger?” Her cheeks were a little flushed, but Mistoffelees couldn't tell if it was because of her jogging or because she thought Tugger was handsome. 

Both of them were plausible, really.

Tugger smirked and pulled Mistoffelees closer, playfully nuzzling at his ears. “Just trying to make him feel welcome, my dear Queen Victoria. Someone has to make sure this kitten sees all the good things this school has to offer, right?"

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes and removed Tugger's arm from around him, mock glaring up at him. “Okay, first of all, will you stop calling me kitten? I'm only a year younger than you, that hardly makes me a kitten. And second of all, I have an actual name, you know. How about you use it?"

Tugger grinned widely. Finally the shy little tom was starting to peek out of his shell a little bit, even if only to banter with him. 

This cat didn't throw himself at him or beg for his attention, which was a surprisingly pleasant change of pace for Tugger. So many other cats, especially queens, would squeal and beg for him to give them the time of day, which he only did for a short while before quickly losing interest and wanting to move on to the next thing or cat that caught his interest. 

But there was something about this black and white tuxedo tom that had caught his interest from the very first time he'd seen him and kept trying to get his attention and to get a little closer to this cat, despite him continuously turning away and ignoring him.

Mistoffelees was an enigma, something Tugger couldn't quite figure out and he didn’t understand why he found him so fascinating. Sure, their talk yesterday had helped clear a few things up, like that he had a strained relationship with his father, but that had only gotten him so far.

He was still so very curious about little Mr. Mistoffelees and he wanted to learn more. He wanted to become friends with him, both to scratch this itch he now had, and because he found himself liking this cat. 

It was kinda fun to have someone who wasn't afraid to call him out, or roll their eyes at him or not constantly beg for him to acknowledge their existence. 

To treat him like just another cat, rather than some celebrity or something pretty to look at.

So he just smirked and pulled the cat close again, playfully ruffling his fur. “Ah yes, that's right! There was a name there, wasn’t there? What was it again? It started with an M, that much I remember, but what was it?"

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a tolerant smile while Victoria snickered behind her paw. “You know, if it's too much for your brain to remember then Misto is fine, too. Everyone else calls me that, it's fine."

Tugger snorted, nibbling at Mistoffelees’ ear teasingly and ducked away with a laugh when Mistoffelees yowled in irritation before hissing and swiped at him with his paw, his claws grazing lightly over his cheek. 

“Nah, I prefer to make my own nicknames. Everyone is already calling you Misto, but I'm not like everyone else. The Rum Tum Tugger makes his own nicknames for his friends."

Mistoffelees glanced over at Victoria and they rolled their eyes at each other. “Oh,is that maybe because you don't have the brain capacity to remember everyone's actual names so you just make up your own?"

Tugger shoved him and drew his paw over Mistoffelees’ fur against the hairs, messing it up and making Mistoffelees yowl again.

“Shut up, pipsqueak."

Victoria snickered as Mistoffelees mock-glared at Tugger while licking his paw and fixed his fur.

The cafeteria was very big and consisted of a seating area both inside and outside the school in a big courtyard. There was what looked like a small restaurant in one end of the room, where Tugger and Victoria explained how he had to order what he wanted, then get a tray, get salad, drink and bread and then pay at the final station and then get his lunch.

The rest of the room was full of round tables where a big chunk of students had already sat down to eat or moved to eat outside, as the sun was shining bright and it looked to be very warm still.

It wasn't quite as fancy or well-made as his usual school, but there were quite a few good and healthy options, as well as a few unhealthy ones. Everything from burgers to pizza, as well as sandwiches and salads and a few more meal-like choices, like ravioli, pasta and lasagna. 

It was probably food that someone had pre-made somewhere else, frozen down and then heated up for everyone for efficiency, but Mistoffelees had never been too picky with food so he wasn't going to complain. Besides, just because it was probably pre-made and reheated didn't mean it wasn't good.

Tugger ordered a large burger with fries, grabbed a bottle of soda and a small plate of salad. Victoria got a chicken salad, small piece of bread and a bottle of water, and Mistoffelees got the lasagna, a bottle of water and a small salad.

Once they all paid and got their food, Tugger lead Mistoffelees over to the doors that lead to the outside sitting area and over to a table where Bombalurina already sat, along with Demeter, Alonzo and Munkustrap.

Tugger groaned softly at the sight of his older brother, but still sat down next to Bombalurina and gestured for Mistoffelees to sit down beside him. Mistoffelees hesitated, looking over his shoulder at Victoria, who just shrugged with a big smile before nodding encouragingly and walking over to her friends, who were sitting at a table close by.

Mistoffelees took a breath and sat down next to Tugger, who was quick to place his arm around him again, smiling over to the other cats at the table.

"Hey guys! Meet my new friend, Mistoffelees! He's new here and knows no one, so be nice to him.” Mistoffelees rolled his eyes and removed Tugger's arm from around him, biting back a small smile.

“You know you don't have to introduce me to everyone, right? I've already met, like, half the students at this school by now from gong to the Showcase rehearsals."

Tugger smirked, shrugged and popped a French fry into his mouth. “Well, yeah, but now I'm introducing my new friend, not just you."

Munkustrap rolled his eyes and shook his head at his younger brother before smiling over at Mistoffelees, a plate of pasta on his tray. “Hi, Mistoffelees. I was looking around for you yesterday, but I didn’t find you. Did something happen? Were you sick?"

Mistoffelees swallowed and shook his head. “Uh, no. Actually I… I threw in the towel and went home. I just… this whole place was so,” He trailed off, looking for a good word. "Overwhelming.” He eventually settled for, taking a bite of his lunch and stared down at the plate to avoid any judging looks from any of them.

It was one thing that a few sophomores had seen him humiliated yesterday, but Munkustrap, Alonzo and Demeter were juniors, possibly even seniors, and he could definitely live without cats two or three years older than him thinking he was weak or pathetic for quitting. 

But Munkustrap just smiled comfortingly and placed a paw on his shoulder. “Yeah, I can only imagine. It is very different from most regular schools.” 

He chuckled and shook his head. “I remember my first day here. I was just like you back then. I had gone to a- for lack of a better word- normal school for my entire life until that point and all of it felt so strange and uncomfortable here. I kept thinking 'there's no structure, everything is so wild and crazy, how can I possibly survive here?’ But once I started making friends and stopped overthinking so much, everything started to feel much better. Also, while a lot of the classes felt really strange and not at all like anything I was used to, I really started to like the teachers and how they helped me get better at the things I love, as well as really stretch my creativity."

He paused for a second to take a bit of his food before looking back to Mistoffelees with a smile. “It was Gus who made me realize how much I like acting and how I one day wanted to a director and he encouraged me to take the creative writing classes and directing classes. He has always been in my corner and encouraging my dreams and goals.”

Alonzo nodded and placed his paw on Munkustrap's shoulder, giving it a squeeze and then turned to Mistoffelees. “Yeah, that's why he was the one calling the shots while we were rehearsing for the Showcase. He's great and structuring shows and other cats and the teachers love him. And whenever he's been directing a play or a show, he's been great at it.”

Tugger rolled his eyes and gagged under his breath, but didn't say anything. He just shoved his burger into his mouth and looked away from them, but Munkustrap still looked over at him, his eyes locked on the burger and fries. 

“A burger, again?” Tugger locked eyes with his brother and shrugged defensively, as if to say ‘what of it?’ Munkustrap sighed and rested his chin on his paw, looking very disapprovingly at Tugger. “You know, having a salad or a pasta every once in a while wouldn't kill you, Tugger."

Tugger narrowed his eyes at his brother and only barely held back a hiss. “Get off my back, Straps! What I eat or don't eat is none of your business.” 

Bombalurina looked between the brothers, rolling her eyes, cleared her throat and gesturing with her head towards Mistoffelees, who looked a bit uncomfortable.

Mistoffelees’ looked down at the table and tried to think of something to say that could direct the conversation away from what could turn into an argument, when he looked up at Demeter. She was sitting with a book in front of her and was eating a turkey sandwich while reading, looking up every now and then to say something or take a sip from her water. 

Mistoffelees looked over the cover and lit up. “Oh, is that the new K.J Growling book?” 

Demeter looked up, a little taken aback but then looked very pleasantly surprised. “Yeah. Have you read it?"

Mistoffelees nodded, a bright smile over his face. “Only like five or six times. This month.” 

Demeter's eyes narrowed and tilted her head confusedly. “But didn't it come out, like, only three weeks ago?” 

Mistoffelees shrugged, still smiling very widely. “What can I say? I love reading. And it's my favorite book series.” He probably should feel a little embarrassed at basically admitting that he had no social life outside of books, but he wasn't. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he loved to read and it truly was a great series.

It was probably extremely ironic that his favorite books was about a cat with magic powers in a world full of magic cats, but then again, it could be because he felt like there was someplace he could escape to where magic was accepted. Even if it was a fictional world. 

But then again, escapism and whatnot.

Demeter lit up and her amber eyes sparkled with excitement. “Mine too! But don't spoil anything for me! I only just got a copy from the library and I'm only halfway through so far.” She put the book aside, marking the page she was on before closing it and turned her full attention to Mistoffelees, resting her elbows on the table. “Which is your favorite book?"

Mistoffelees grinned, forgetting entirely about his food and the awkward tension between Munkustrap and Tugger, eager to talk about his favorite books. “Well, I have a soft spot for the first one, because I really fell in love with it, and the mythology and magic was cleverly weaved into a realistic world. And I love Zerlina, she's such a great and relatable character. But I have to say the second one really grabbed me. The tension and mystery was fantastic and I literally stayed up all night for two nights in a row because I couldn't put it down. It's definitely the one that got me into the series for real.”

Demeter nodded, looking equally as eager to talk about the series. "Yeah, I see what you mean. Personally I really like the third one the best. It just felt like such a personal struggle for Zerlina and her feelings felt so… real, you know? Like, she wants revenge on the monster who sold her parents out to the villain, who is said to be a dangerous and crazy killer, but also wants to do the right thing and save her best friend. I just really felt for her and her struggles."

Grimacing lightly, Mistoffelees tilted his head from side to side before shrugging. “Yeah, I really liked it too, but for me it was really tough to get through. Not because it was bad or anything, there were just so much stuff going on in story and so many characters that annoyed and made me angry so I sometimes just had to put it aside so I wouldn't lose my temper."

Demeter laughed and shook her head. “Honestly I just see it as more reason to want to see the villain die a grizzly death.” She then smirked and gestured at Mistoffelees with her paw. “But can we at least both agree that this is one of the few times where the ‘traitor who has daddy issues and wants to take it out on the world’ was actually done well?"

Mistoffelees’ eyes widened and nodded at her. “ _I_ _know_ , right? Like, there were so many times in the books where I agreed with him! The magicians are total jerks to their kids, of course the kids are going to get sick of it and fight back. And they're also manipulated by the villain, so it's not like they're the ones who actually wants to destroy the world."

While he and Demeter talked animatedly, the others were looking strangely at them, either looking very confused or amused by how seriously they were taking this book series. Bombalurina eyed her sister with a both somewhat annoyed and amused smile before turning to Tugger. 

“Well, at least she's found someone who actually likes to discuss those damn books with her now. I have been getting so sick of listening to her go on and on about them."

Demeter just waved her off, barely paying her sister any attention, and Munkustrap just smiled fondly at her with his chin resting on one paw. 

_‘She's so cute when she's this excited and happy.’_

Alonzo and Tugger looked at Munkustrap and his very obvious love-struck smile before looking over at each other.

Alonzo rolled his eyes and gestured with his head towards his best friend. _‘You think they'll ever spill the beans and get together already?'_

Tugger shrugged and tilted his head slightly, pursing his lips. _'Well if Straps doesn’t tell her soon, then I will. I am getting so sick of listening to him go on and on about how pretty, kind and amazing she is.’_

But then, as Mistoffelees and Demeter started talking about favorite characters, a loud scream was heard from the inside the school.

_“RUMPLETEAZER!!!”_

And Mistoffelees immediately bit down on his tongue to keep himself from bursting out laughing. 

_‘Showtime!’_

Amaryl came running out from inside the school, and Oh Sweet Everlasting Cat, she was a sight to be seen. 

Her normally platinum fur was now a mess of dark brown and violet purple, covering her head, shoulders, back and belly, the only spots or natural color left was her face, arms, legs and tail. 

Everyone was staring at her before bursting out laughing as she marched past them and Mistoffelees was biting down hard on his lip and tongue so he wouldn't start too. Though it was difficult, because she looked absolutely ridiculous.

But either Amaryl was so angry that she didn't hear it or had a thicker skin that Mistoffelees had given her credit for, because she just marched right up the table where Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer sat- which just so happened to be the table where Victoria was sitting at- and slammed her paws down on the table, glaring daggers at Rumpleteazer, who was laughing so hard she was crying. 

“I- I'm terribly s-sorry, A-amaryl, b-but t-that look,” She had to stop as she was gasping for breath. “B-but that look r-really doesn't work for you!” And as soon as she had squeaked out the last part she fell forward, burying her face in her arms and laughed so hard her whole body was shaking. 

Not that Mungojerrie was faring much better. He looked like has on the verge of choking or suffocating from lack of oxygen. And Victoria and Jemima were also laughing extremely hard, tears streaming down their cheeks and clutching their stomachs.

Huffing and puffing from anger, Amaryl slammed down the bottle of fur dye in front of them, then folded her arms over her chest and glared daggers at them. Or more specifically, at Rumpleteazer.

“Can you please explain what happened to my fur dye?” Rumpleteazer lifted her head from her arms and, once she calmed down enough, she looked over the bottle, sniffed the contents, then shrugged and put it back down.

“How should I know? I haven't touched your nasty bottle of fake.” She looked over at her brother. “Have you?"

Mungojerrie shook his head, shrugging his shoulders, looking totally clueless. “No, I haven't touched it. Never have."

And it was then that Victoria recognized the bottle as the brand she had bought once, as well as the faint smell of something familiar, but couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.

Her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head, looking over the bottle in front of her. Something strange was going on here, something that clearly hadn't been Mungojerrie or Rumpleteazer's doing.

Amaryl rolled her eyes and gestured at herself, looking about ready to burst into flames. “How the _hell_ do you explain _this_ then? If you didn't do it, _who_ _did?!_ It's always you two! You always do things like this!"

Both Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, seemingly catching on that they could get in trouble for this, raised their paws and put on their most innocent faces.

“It wasn't us!"

“We're innocent!"

Mungojerrie then snorted and turned to his sister. “Though it _is_ hilarious."

Rumpleteazer snickered. “Yeah I know, can't believe I didn't think of it myself."

Amaryl rolled her eyes. “Yeah right, and I'm just supposed to believe my fur dye just changed color all on its own?”

Rumpleteazer pursed her lips, shrugged weakly and looking down at the table. “... I've seen stranger.” 

By this point, both Rose and Lily had come out to join their leader, and Lily took the bottle, opened it and gently sniffed the contents. She scrunched her nose, looking a bit disgusted, and then contemplative.

“It smells like… lavender and,” She sniffed again, a bit more thoroughly this time, her eyes widening as she recognized the scent. “... and coffee."

Amaryl's face went from angry to shocked and then back to anger as she turned to Mistoffelees, who just narrowed his eyes and leaned back, looking more confused than scared. 

“ _You…_ ” She hissed with a near demonic voice before rushing over to him, ready to attack with her claws out, when Bombalurina flew up from her seat to block her and Tugger spread out his arms to protect Mistoffelees.

Bombalurina was taller, a bit broader and a lot stronger than Amaryl and it was very easy for her to grab her arms and hold her back, but Amaryl was thrashing back and forth in her grip to try and get free and reach Mistoffelees, practically screaming at this point.

“You! _You_ did this, you little _rat_! Oh you are going to regret this, you little brat! Mark my word, you are going to die when I get my paws on you! You better hope that I never do because I-"

Munkustrap got up from his his seat, cleared his throat and yelled, in a voice that was close to sounding like a drill sergeant:

_“QUIET!”_

The courtyard fell completely silent, staring at Munkustrap with wide eyes and Amaryl looked like a deer caught in headlights, now frozen in Bombalurina's grip on her. 

Munkustrap gestured at Bombalurina to release her, which she begrudgingly did and sat down, and stepped up to her with his arms folded and stared her down.

“Now, will you please explain yourself here? How is this Mistoffelees’ fault?” Amaryl stared up at him with wide eyes before glaring over at Mistoffelees, who was still putting on the performance of a confused and slightly scared cat, hiding behind Tugger's back every once in a while, covering his mouth with his paw so no one could see or hear that he was laughing.

She pointed at him accusingly. ”That little brat messed with my fur dye! He poured coffee into it to humiliate me!”

Munkustrap raised one eyebrow, leaning down to her level and lowered his voice, ever so slightly. “Why would he do that?"

She turned to him, suddenly completely lost for words. “What?"

Munkustrap repeated himself. “Why would he pour coffee into your fur dye? What could possibly have prompted him to do something like that? And why would he want to humiliate you?”

Amaryl stared at him with wide eyes, looking completely lost for words. She obviously hadn't thought that far ahead to come up with a reason that didn't end with her admitting to what she did yesterday.

Mistoffelees smirked wickedly behind Tugger's shoulder and laughed deviously, if a bit sadistically. 

_‘Oh, the joy of watching the fly get caught in the web and desperately try to get free before the spider eats it.'_

Amaryl opened and closed her mouth, desperately trying to come up with an explanation. But before she could say anything, Tugger played the ultimate baby brother card and tattled on her. 

“Probably because she poured coffee all over him yesterday during Gus’ class after forcing him to play a Pollicle and now she is blaming him for her problems and trying to get him in trouble.” 

Amaryl gasped and stared at him, betrayed and shocked by the fact that Tugger would tattle on her, but Tugger just gave her the same cold glare he gave her yesterday before turning around to make sure Mistoffelees was okay. 

Munkustrap looked back to her, looking at her with so much disgust and anger that Mistoffelees was impressed she didn't burst into flames or turn to stone or something to that effect.

“You did _what_?” His voice was low and threatening, and Amaryl shrunk back and now looked incredibly scared. Munkustrap was muscular and very tall- at least 6,1- and easily taller than Amaryl even while she was wearing heels and he used it to his advantage to tower over her and intimidate her. 

And going by her tense body, her folded back ears and the tail between her legs, he was doing a very good job of it.

He then turned to Mistoffelees, his face softening a little. “Is that true?”

Mistoffelees nodded. “Yes, it's true.” He then turned to Amaryl, shifting away from Tugger and looked her straight in the eyes.

“And yes, Amaryl I did it.” 

An excited and surprised murmur went through the courtyard and the other cats at the table stared at him completely shocked. 

But just as Amaryl started to smile smugly and opened her mouth, he cut her off. “Yeah, I went home yesterday then went out of my way to make a bottle of sabotaged fur-dye, coincidentally getting the brand right after hoping that maybe you actually did dye your fur, then snuck into the queens’ changing room during dance class without anyone seeing me and replaced both bottles and then snuck back out, again, without anyone seeing me, and sat around waiting for you to come out, looking ridiculous, all because I wanted to get back at you for pouring coffee all over me yesterday."

He finished his long rant by raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips, looking about as dry and unemotional as he normally did.

And the shock was immediately replaced with laughter, as the sheer ridiculousness of what Amaryl was implying sank in, as well as Mistoffelees’ dripping sarcasm and dry and emotionless voice. 

But Mistoffelees was laughing devilishly on the inside, cause while a big chunk of that was 100% true, they obviously didn't know that. And the fact that there were so many steps he would have needed to take just to get some petty revenge made the whole thing all the more ridiculous and truly ensured his innocence.

Amaryl looked like a rat who had been caught in a trap, realizing that there was no way that anyone would take her side in this. 

Mistoffelees smirked and stood up from his seat, taking a few short steps up to her and folded his arms over his chest. “Look Amaryl, let's say, just for the sake of argument that I did all of that, I’ll walk with you to that pier. But even if I did it, you have absolutely no proof of it whatsoever. So what exactly are you going to do, go to a teacher and just say I did it? Worst case scenario I get a talking to, perhaps a smack on the wrist, but that's it. You have nothing that can get me in major trouble, and if what you say is true, they might just believe that Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer did it, since they,” He paused to make air quotes with his fingers. "'always do stuff like this.’ So what is most likely to happen is that they get punished and I go free."

He shrugged, smiling cheekily all while still looking into her eyes. “Doesn't sound like a satisfying comeuppance for you, them or me."

Amaryl stared at him, her eyes wide and jaw hanging open. She not jaded to being spoken to like this, especially not from little freshmen. 

Smirking lightly, Mistoffelees walked up closer until he was only inches away from her, and though still several inches shorter than her, raised his chin defiantly and leaned in close to her face.

“And honestly, after the stunt you pulled yesterday, who do you think they’re going to believe, me or you? The new student on his second day at a new school or the Queen B? And after everyone here seeing you lose your cool and try to attack me?" 

He shrugged again. “I don’t think they’re going to just stand idly by and let you get away with acting like this. And even if they are, I’m sure not going to.”

He stepped back, smirking as she went from angry to shocked just staring at him. “After all, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good cats to do nothing."

Amaryl's shocked face turned into confusion and she narrowed her eyes at him, trying to put on her normal nasty attitude. “Uh, what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

The smirk turned into his normal unemotional mask. “It means that I'm not going to put up with your attitude or crap, Amaryl. And neither should anyone else here, so just take your attitude and get lost.”

Then he turned around and walked back to his seat, casually sitting down and turning back to his lunch. 

Tugger, Bombalurina, Demeter, Alonzo and Munkustrap looked at him with wide eyes, completely shocked by this sudden backbone and everyone around them was following the scene in front of them like a tennis match, eyes going back and forth, back and forth between Amaryl and Mistoffelees.

Demeter, who had been staring with wide eyes at the small tux, now turned to look at Amaryl with a very cold and icy expression.

“Yeah, I think you'd better go now. Before any one of us decides to go and tell a teacher about this.” Her was voice was also very cold and dangerous, so completely unlike the queen he had just discussed books with.

And Bombalurina folded her arms over her chest, smirking evilly at her. “Yeah and if I were you I'd call a salon as soon as possible. I don't think that is going to wash out in the shower with Shampoo and soap."

Amaryl looked around the table, then the courtyard, then back at the table before she turned tail and hurried back into the school, with Rose and Lily not far behind her. 

Once she was gone, Mistoffelees let out a huge breath, slumping over as the weight of what he had just done hit him and he felt like he had just run a marathon or finished a particularly tricky choreography. 

This whole 'standing up to cats’ thing was a lot more draining and scary than he had thought it would be. And he'd already thought it was scary, so that was saying something.

Tugger however looked like Christmas had come early this year, grinning widely and wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him closer and laughed loudly.

“Kitt, that was amazing! That look on her face, it was priceless! Oh, I wish I had gotten a picture of it, it was great!”

Bombalurina started laughing, pointing to him with a wide smirk and her eyes sparkling with mirth. “Yeah, I knew there was a reason I liked you. You’ve got guts!”

Demeter nodded, covering her mouth with a paw to hold back her laughter and Alonzo snorted loudly at him. “Dude, that was great! Remind me to never get on your bad side, kit, you're scary when you wanna be.”

Munkustrap was also laughing, though still tried to look reprimanding and disapproving. “Yeah, I have to admit that it's nice to see her knocked down a peg. Though I'd like to avoid any fighting or severe arguing in the future."

Mistoffelees eyed them all, one after the other, warily to see if anyone might be lying or trying to trick him, but they just smiled reassuringly, so he sighed and folded his arms over his chest.

“She had it coming.” He muttered darkly, glaring over at the door to the school. 

Bombalurina smirked and gave him a playful shove. “Yeah and you're the one who gave it to her. She'll think twice before going after you again.” 

Mistoffelees didn't know how to respond, so he just shoved some lasagna into his mouth, hoping for a change of subject. 

Though on the inside, he was still reveling in the schadenfreude of having won against her. There was no way that she would convince any teacher that he had done it without proof, which meant that his plan had succeeded.

Mistoffelees smirked to himself as he ate his food, feeling incredibly smug about himself.

_‘Eight years later and I've still got it!’_

But as lunch wrapped up and everyone got up to leave their trays with plates and utensils to be washed, Victoria came jogging up to him with a knowing smile on her face, leaning close to whisper in his ear.

“Funny how Amaryl’s bottle with fur dye was the _exact_ same brand as the one I bought once, isn't it?"

Mistoffelees sighed. Of course. Of course she'd figure it out. She had been watching him play pranks on their father and his friends for years, of course she would realize that he did it. 

Still, he turned to her with an innocent expression, tilting his head to the side. “What? What do you mean?"

She smirked and shoved him playfully. “You know perfectly well what I mean, Misto. You might have fooled everyone else but you can't fool me. After what happened yesterday and what Amaryl did to you, as well your sudden change of attitude, do you mean to tell me that you didn't plan out a way to get back at her? Especially with how you wanted to go off on your own this morning just as Amaryl entered the school?"

Hm, so she had noticed her after all. She had noticed everything. He really should give his sister a lot more credit, she was a lot more observant than he had thought. 

Or perhaps his theory of them sharing a physic link was more plausible than he had thought.

Looking at her coolly and raising an eyebrow, Mistoffelees just shrugged. “I'm sure I don't know what you mean, dear sister. And I'm insulted by your insinuation that I would be caught dead doing something so petty and childish.” He turned his nose up mockingly, before opening one eye to look at her and smiled a small smile.

Victoria rolled her eyes at him, shoving him again and laughing. “Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that, bro. I know the truth.” Then she leaned in even closer and only barely managed to hold back a snicker. “So, what was in that bottle, anyway?"

Mistoffelees choked back a laugh, covering his mouth with his paw. He looked up and around to make sure no one could hear them, then turned to his sister and smiled devilishly at her.

“It was half a bottle of extra strong platinum blonde fur dye, some fur tonic for toms and a generous amount of cold, black, day-old coffee.” He lifted his chin, smirking cockily at Victoria, waiting for her judgment.”

Now it was her turn to choke back a laugh, snorting like a pig as she covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. Her eyes were sparkling with wicked glee and schadenfreude and her body shook as she tried to hold back her loud laughter.

“Oh Everlasting Misto, that is _evil_! She'll have to find the best salon in all of London and pay hundreds of pounds to get all of it out and dye her fur back to the way it was!"

Smirking smugly and devilishly at her, he shrugged and wiggled her head back and forth a few times. "I'm sure she can afford it. After all,” He made his voice a bit high pitched and mocked Amaryl's voice. “'Daddy makes millions of dollars a year!’ I bet he'd be more than happy to foot that bill.”

Victoria snickered and shook her head, looking after her brother as he walked to leave his dishes before Tugger managed to catch him again and dragged him off to their next class, smiling softly after him as they walked away.

And she felt a warm, blossoming pride as she looked at him. Because this side of her brother she hadn't seen in years. The cheeky, devious and mischievous little gremlin who had no problems with causing trouble for their father, his friends or even her, and yet also be able to get out of trouble because he was just that smart and clever enough to cover his tracks and make sure no one would ever think he was responsible.

He really was trying, she could tell. He'd probably still have some ways to go, might still have trouble letting other cats in and truly feel comfortable in this place and with everyone here. But he was trying, that much was clear.

And it almost brought her tears of pride. 

Finally she was getting her brother back.

* * *

Most of classes were fairly spaced out. Though there was mostly 'normal’ classes, like History, English and Math, there was also acting classes and singing classes strewn out over the day. 

Those classes tended to be a little bit longer than most academic classes, maybe an hour and a half and up to two hours, and they were pretty demanding. 

It was made very clear why they were only accepting the best of the best in this school. They were wasting no time playing around or messing around and were all very focused on their studies.

And despite how Mistoffelees was allowed to just sit and observe during today's singing class, he still wanted to participate and be apart of this school and its classes. So by the end of the day he was absolutely exhausted and his throat was aching a little bit.

He was a dancer, not a singer or actor, so a lot of this was going to take time to get used to.

As he and Victoria and everyone else started to pack up and get ready to leave, Mistoffelees was exhausted but happy. 

Victoria also looked very happy as she opened her locker, grabbed a few of her books to put in her bag, and smiled at her brother. “So, how do you feel now? Good?"

Mistoffelees let out a heavy breath, rubbing one paw over his eye, fighting back a yawn. “Tired. But yeah, I feel much better today. Though some of these classes are probably take some getting used to. I will never make any jokes at the expense of singers again, it's a lot harder than I ever thought.” 

She laughed and shook her head. 

Tugger, who had been trailing behind Mistoffelees almost all of today, came up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, Bombalurina close by his side.

“So, will we see you tomorrow, Misto? Or do you feel the need to be convinced some more? Because I'd be more than happy to help a fellow talented cat out here.” 

Mistoffelees rolled his eyes and shrugged off his arm, but still smiled warmly as he looked around the room, at the colorful lockers and myriad of students and nodded to himself.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think you will.”

Tugger smiled widely and Bombalurina playfully punched his shoulders. “Great to hear. Always nice to have more level headed cats who don't constantly try to gain this moron's favor."

Tugger glared at Bombalurina and shoved her, which only made her laugh and shove him back, before turning back to Mistoffelees. “So, what are you doing now? Got any plans?"

Looking over at Victoria, Mistoffelees shrugged at her with pursed lips and raised eyebrows- which she returned- before looking back to Tugger. “Uh, no not really. I'm probably just going home to do homework."

His smirk widening, Tugger nudged him and then smirked over at Bombalurina. “Well, me and Bomba were planning on going down to this great coffee place with a few buddies to study together.” He turned back to Mistoffelees with a softer smile. “Wanna come along?”

Mistoffelees blinked and stared at Tugger, then at Bombalurina, then his sister. Victoria nodded encouragingly with a wide smile, which he slowly returned before turning back to Tugger and Bombalurina.

“Um… yeah, sure! Though I'm not really a big coffee person.” 

Bombalurina smirked teasingly and folded her arms over her chest. “They have tea too if that's more your preference.”

Mistoffelees snorted and gripped at the strap of his bag before turning to Victoria. “You wanna come along too?"

She smiled gently and politely shook her head. “Nah, I don't think I can. I have project with Jemima, Electra and Etcetera due this Friday and we need to work on it together."

This was a lie, since the biggest project for the last few weeks had been the Showcase and everything else had been second priority to that. But she really wanted her brother to grow more comfortable around other cats, away from her. 

Mistoffelees smiled and then turned to Tugger and Bombalurina, still gripping at the strap on his bag, but visibly relaxing. “Well then, lead the way."

Tugger smirked and placed his arm around Mistoffelees. “Awesome! We just have to get our books from our lookers, but we'll meet you outside?"

Mistoffelees nodded with a wide grin and he and Bombalurina hurried away, and Mistoffelees turned back to Victoria. “I'll see you at home then, Tori."

She nodded with a warm smile before giving him a quick hug before hurrying over to her friends. 

Mistoffelees grabbed his phone from out of his bag to message his father about where he was going, only to pause when he saw had received a text from an unknown number.

Though who had sent it became abundantly clear as he read the message.

_Curious Cat: Glad to see you're giving us a proper chance, kit. I can only imagine that my charms and fantastic convincing skills helped you see the light. ;)_

Mistoffelees snorted and rolled his eyes at the text message. ‘Not that kinda cat' indeed. 

He quickly changed the name of the contact from Curious Cat to Terrible Bore and sent a quick reply before walking outside the school to wait for Tugger and Bombalurina.

_Yeah, yeah keep telling yourself that, you terrible bore! If that helps you sleep at night. ;-P_

Then, suddenly, Mistoffelees felt the same kind of tingling feeling in his brain from yesterday and immediately looked up and stared out towards the street, a few feet away from the school. 

On the other side of the road was the same homeless cat from yesterday, in the same old and torn dress, the coat that was dragging behind her and her dirty and messy fur and face smeared with make-up. And she was staring directly at him, or at least the school. 

She didn't appear particularly threatening or dangerous, if anything she looked very sad and broken, with her tattered clothing, smudged makeup and sad look on her face, but there was something about the look in her eyes that made Mistoffelees’ skin crawl.

Maybe because she was an adult and was possibly stalking someone at this school, full of underage cats. 

But there was also something that sparked his curiosity about her. 

Who was she? Where had she come from? And why did his powers react so strongly to her presence? It didn't usually react _this_ strongly to strangers.

“Hey! Ready to go?"

Mistoffelees jumped, tearing his eyes away from the queen on the other side of the street and looked up to find Tugger and Bombalurina coming out of the school. His eyes darted over at the queen, still feeling very curious and weary about her staring at the school, before shaking his head and put on a smile, looking back at his new friends.

“Yeah, let's go!” Tugger, once again, placed his arm around him as he started to lead him down the street towards the city.

“It's not far from here, kit. You're gonna love it, they have the best lattes in London! I can guarantee that you're going to love it."

Mistoffelees locked eyes with Bombalurina and they rolled their eyes at each other, smiling tugging on their lips. They were both clearly on the same page about Tugger and let him go on.

But as they walked down the street, Mistoffelees turned to look over his shoulder and saw the dirty and disheveled queen stare after them as they walked further and further away from the school. She didn't follow them, but she just kept staring after them. 

Both his paws and brain tingled as he felt his powers react to her presence and staring, but he couldn't quite figure out if he was scared or intrigued by her.

But he had seen her twice now, and both times very close to the school, which was more than a little curious. Once might not mean much and twice might a coincidence, but he had a strong feeling he'd see more of her.

But _who_ was she? 

What could have happened to her in life to end up in such a sad stage?

And what did she want from this place?

Or was it _him_ she was after?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done! And that's the end of this arc! Finally can we move on to new stuff. Now, like I said, it might take a little while for the next chapter to come, since I want to figure out where to go next. But I'd love to hear from you what you'd like to read in the future! So feel free to comment what you'd like to read, all ideas are acceptable (so long as it's not inappropriate of course, as I don't write NSFW) 
> 
> Though, small hint, we might dwell into the Deuteronomy's next chapter!
> 
> And yes, the book series that I made up is a mix between Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, though mostly Percy Jackson, as I’ve only read three of the HP books. I just thought Misto would love a book series about magic cats that try to save the world from evil. And the K.J Growling pun was too hard to resist.
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter and please leave comments, kudos and bookmark and subscribe to this story!


End file.
